Reason First: A Christmas Time Disaster- The Ronald Gene Simmons Murders

A man just woke up and decided to mow down people without remorse, without regard. That man was Ronald Gene Simmons. He essentially lined up his family and shot or strangled them, from his wife to his children among others. He had sexual relations with his own daughter and she produced his son/grandson. He gunned down Sheila and her husband along with his one-year-old grandson Michael.

He covered the bodies with coats, save for one as Sheila received the tablecloth treatment. Simmons journeyed to a bar and enjoyed the atmosphere. He then returned to the house full of corpses. He proceeded to crack open a beer and watch television programs. It makes one wonder about the audience of certain shows. How many murderers watched Johnny Carson before or after they did their worst?

Beyond his family, he murdered a receptionist and oil company personnel and injured a manager of a Mini-Mart and two employees at the store. Additionally, he harmed a Woodline Motor Freight Company worker. The carnage ended when he just had a seat and waited for sirens and flashing lights to reach him.

Now, this case requires a criminal psychologist. As to the mind of a man who from Tuesday December 22 to December 26 1987 in Dover, Arkansas extinguished 16 people in a cool, calm demeanor. He didn’t have to raise his voice or brandish the firearm with any heated passion. He just sliced down the lives of his alleged loved ones and others. He sure had shown one hell of a way loving his family members.

But the nonchalance of his murderous ways may have painted a portrait of a man who just wanted to kill. Sometimes people just get the notion to pick up a pistol and do the Lord’s work. Now, while there is no unknown or unknowable, the idea might have been that Simmons wanted to kill off these people to start an assisted suicide crusade on his own behalf. He even said, “...Anything short of death would be cruel and unusual punishment.”

Simmons felt like the holiday season was the perfect time to start picking off members of his family and workers, allegedly. That impetus to commit the most heinous of crimes might have been harboring in his mind for years, decades.

His incestuos relationship with his daugter may have spurred his killer ideas. Notice that this ideations fueled his monstrous actions. Simmons abandoned the ability to think before he pulled the trigger on his first victim, his wife. He had formed ideas in his head to execute as many of those who should have been his top values and random employees. Instead, he used ideas to command him to do the most destruction. His irrationalism never got corrected.

Had he been able to find the right mental health professionals, would this mass murder had occurred? Or did Simmons just want to see destruction of lives for the sake of destruction? Did he in his mind say that he was some kind of savior? Did he ask himself that he would be dead one day and as far as his family was concerned, he didn’t want them to suffer his death?

Whatever the case, the ogreish action of this one male proved that anyone is capable of carnage. All it takes is for the reason to exit the equation. Without rationality, Simmons felt that he could drop as many lives as he could. His laidback and unpanicky behavior allowed him to take all of those lives.

By choosing the holiday season to commit these murders he knew that the festivities would be in full swing. He knew that the joviality of the time of year would be at its zenith. He understood that his family would be over and looking for happiness and joy. Rather, they were met with a bullet or strangled. For his actions, Simmons received the lethal injection on May 31, 1990, never appealing his case.

It is imperative for those who have ideations to do disgusting acts to be directed to the nearest psychiatrist.