Ronald Gene Simmons Sr. (July 15, 1940 – June 25, 1990) was an American spree mass murderer and former military serviceman who perpetrated an attack that killed 16 people, including 14 members of his own family, over a week in December 1987 in Arkansas. The killings, centered at his home near Dover and later at several public locations, remain the deadliest familicide in United States history, and the second deadliest mass murder in Arkansas history, after the Elaine massacre of 1919. Simmons, a retired U.S. Navy and Air Force veteran, was convicted in two trials, sentenced to death, waived all appeals, and was executed by lethal injection in 1990 — the first person executed by that method in Arkansas. His refusal to appeal led to the U.S. Supreme Court case Whitmore v. Arkansas.
Personal life and military career
Ronald Gene Simmons was born on July 15, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois, the second of three children born to Loretta and William Simmons. After his father died of a stroke in 1943, his mother married William D. Griffen, a civil engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The family relocated frequently due to Griffen's work, living in Pope County near Hector from 1946 to 1950, then in the Little Rock area, Albuquerque, and later California.
Relatives later described Simmons as violent and domineering from an early age. By the time he was 10 years old, he was reportedly bullying his younger sister and half-brother; family members said this behavior continued into adulthood, with his own children. Accounts from relatives portrayed him as quick-tempered, manipulative, and abusive toward both people and animals. His parents attempted to address the behavior by sending him to stay with family friends during the summers and later enrolling him in a Catholic boarding school near Searcy, but the problems persisted.
On September 5, 1957, Simmons dropped out of school and enlisted in the United States Navy. While stationed in Guam, he earned his GED, and in 1959 he was assigned as a yeoman at Naval Hospital Bremerton in Washington. During that period, he met Bersabe Rebecca "Becky" Ulibarri at a USO dance. The two married on July 9, 1960, in Raton, New Mexico, and eventually had seven children over the next 18 years.
Simmons left the Navy in 1962. He was briefly employed by Bank of America in San Francisco, then joined the U.S. Air Force in January 1963. Over the next two decades, he served as an administrative specialist on assignments in Virginia, California, England, Vietnam, and New Mexico. While stationed at Langley Air Force Base, Simmons' first child, Sheila, was born in 1963.
Simmons later transferred into the Air Force Office of Special Investigations; he was promoted to staff sergeant in 1966. After reenlisting, Simmons volunteered for duty in Vietnam in exchange for an AFOSI assignment in Saigon. He arrived in Vietnam in August 1967, and remained there through part of the Tet Offensive in early 1968.
During his 22-year military career, Simmons received several decorations, including the Bronze Star, the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and the Air Force Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon. He retired from the Air Force on November 30, 1979, with the rank of master sergeant. Despite later revelations about his personal life, military evaluations consistently described his performance as exemplary, and his service record remained officially spotless throughout his career.
Becky told her sister that Simmons' mother had warned her about his temper and his tendency to dominate those close to him. "She was always trying to tell me what Gene was like," Becky told her sister. "But I didn't listen."
At Simmons' insistence, Becky stopped wearing makeup and kept her hair tied back. He handled all outside household responsibilities, such as paying bills and buying groceries, while forbidding her from obtaining a driver's license or using a phone. She could only write to her family, but later, he denied her stamps, forcing her to ask others to mail her letters secretly. Simmons used distant post office boxes to censor the family's mail and required Becky to wear long dresses. Becky's sister, Viola O'Shields, noted, "Becky was not stupid by any means, but she was insecure. Ronald had made her believe that things were her fault, that she deserved what she got." "He cut her off from all of us, and now he's gone crazy... He wouldn't let her have a telephone, and he'd stand there if she ever made any calls from somewhere else."
Another sister, Edith Nesby, said the cruelty he employed often was more mental than physical. "He used to tell her she was dumb," Nesby said. "He'd tell Becky to say 'linoleum,' and when she'd mispronounce it, he'd laugh. He always had a mean streak."
Just before Simmons was executed in June 1990, Becky's brother, Manuel Ulibarri, described him as an evil man who demanded complete control of his family.
From 1976 to 1981, the family lived on a 2-acre (0.81 ha) property in Wills Canyon near the small town of Cloudcroft, New Mexico.
In April 1976, after a four-year stint in the UK stationed at RAF Alconbury, Simmons was assigned to the Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) observatory in the Sacramento Mountains east of Alamogordo. The SAMSO Electro-Optical Research Facility focused its telescopes on Air Force communications satellites and detectors on high-flying aircraft. Located thirty-two miles from Holloman AFB, the observatory was a semiautonomous post with a personnel roster of one officer and seven enlisted personnel, with Simmons being the senior enlisted man. All had top secret security clearances.
In November 1976, the Air Force announced that it would place the observatory on "caretaker status" as soon as possible. As the site staff decreased, Simmons took on more responsibilities and was ultimately the last person to "turn out the lights" when the observatory was deactivated in June 1978. After this, Simmons was transferred to the 6585th Test Group at Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo.
On November 30, 1979, Simmons, who had over 20 years of service, retired from the Air Force when faced with the possibility of a promotion to Senior Master Sergeant (E-8) that would require extending his service obligation and a transfer to Turkey.
On May 5, 1981, Simmons began working as a GS-4 civil service employee at Holloman AFB.
Allegations, investigation, and charges