Wendell Grissom, 56, convicted for fatally shooting a 23-year-old woman during a random home invasion in 2005, will be executed on Thursday, March 20. His death will mark the first execution in Oklahoma in 2025. During the investigation, it was revealed that Grissom, who already had a criminal record at that time, randomly selected Dreu Kopf’s Blaine County Residence near Watonga. However, he wasn’t alone; he picked up Jessie Floyd Johns, who was hitchhiking, and the two of them decided to rob a home.
Amber Matthews, who was a 23-year-old woman, was visiting Kopf and her two young children when she came face to face with Grissom and his co-defendant. She was shot twice in the head and left on the floor, trying to cling to life. Meanwhile, Kopf was also seriously injured as she was also shot twice, but managed to flee the scene in the invader’s truck to get some assistance. While she survived and her two children were also found inside the home, physically unhurt, Amber Matthews couldn’t live. Shortly after being flown by helicopter to an Oklahoma City hospital, the 23-year-old tragically died.
For his brutal crimes, Grissom will now be executed on Thursday by a lethal injection. Kopf, who survived the fatal home invasion but misses her dear friend Mathhews even 20 years later, plans on witnessing the execution at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Her two teenage daughters, who were really young at that time, will also reportedly accompany their mom to Grissom’s execution.
In 2005, my beautiful cousin Amber was shot twice in the head and killed by Wendell Grissom. She was visiting her friend and her small children when he and his friend were attempting to rob her friend’s house. Amber was trying to protect the kiddos and was holding one of the… pic.twitter.com/uN0SKt760c
— Flossy (@ImmaGoodGirlIAm) February 5, 2025
Following the news of his upcoming execution, people online engaged in debate and discussions over whether he deserved it. Many of Matthews’ relatives, close friends, and those who condemn Grissom’s action demanded that he should definitely be executed. Meanwhile, some people advocating against Capital Punishment have called for stopping the execution of Grissom.
His attorneys didn’t dispute his guilt but requested a clemency hearing, citing that he had suffered brain damage due to a complicated birth. They claimed that he was mentally stunted, which provoked him to lead a life of danger involving drugs, alcohol, crimes, and eventually murder. However, Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board denied Grissom’s clemency request.
Catholic Mobilizing Network reiterated his claimed head injuries as a reason to stop his execution. “At the time of Wendell’s trial, lawyers failed to present the wealth of mitigating evidence that might have changed the course of his sentencing. Wendell has had brain damage since birth, but this evidence was only uncovered during his state appeal, long after he was given a death sentence,” the petitioners emphasized.
I just took action with @CMNEndtheDP to oppose the upcoming execution of Wendell Grissom in Oklahoma.
Will you join me? https://t.co/FloRdxmP1X
— Mary Whipple (@mlwhipple1) March 20, 2025
They also insisted that Wendell was remorseful for his actions. Kristi Christopher, an attorney with the federal public defender’s office, said, “He cannot change the past, but he is now and always has been deeply ashamed and remorseful.”
During his first interview with police, Grissom wrote an apology to Matthews’ family. He also said, “I don’t know what made me do what I did.” Although he has accepted the responsibility for her murder, he maintains that it was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime mistake. In 2019, he told the state’s Pardon and Parole board, “I’m not a monster. Please, somehow look past that one day in my life, for it’s not who I am at all.”
Despite his remorse, the survivor of his attack, Kopf, continues to grapple with extreme mental and physical scars. She still carries the bullet fragments in her body while living in constant fear whenever a stranger appears in her neighborhood or rings her doorbell.
Meanwhile, Grissom’s accomplice Johns was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
