Judge sentences Underwood to die

By James S. Tyree and Tony Thornton

Published: April 3, 2008

PURCELL — A judge today formally sentenced Kevin Ray Underwood to die by lethal injection for the 2006 murder of Jamie Rose Bolin, his 10-year-old neighbor at a Purcell apartment complex.

McClain County District Judge Candace Blalock's pronouncement was largely a formality, since a jury imposed the death penalty last month after convicting Underwood, 28, of the girl's death.

Underwood declined the judge's offer to speak before she issued the sentence.

Blalock set June 13 as the execution date, but an appeal is automatic.

During his 10-minute court appearance, Underwood asked to waive the 10-day waiting period to be transferred from jail to prison. He likely will be housed on the death row unit at Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Killer planned to eat body

Jamie's body was found hidden in a plastic tub in Underwood's closet on April 14, 2006, two days after she disappeared from the apartment she shared with her father upstairs from Underwood's.

The victim was killed as part of a cannibalistic plot that Underwood revealed during a grisly, videotaped interview after his arrest.

The killer said he lured Jamie into his apartment by asking if she wanted to see his pet rat. Once inside, she was hit over the head with a wooden cutting board.

Underwood said he then smothered her with her hands, placed duct tape over her nose and mouth and sliced her neck with a knife in a failed attempt to cut off her head.

Underwood consented to a search two days later during an interview with the FBI. His taped confessed, made hours later, was played for jurors during Underwood's trial.

In the video, Underwood admitted fantasizing of kidnapping a young boy or girl, forcing them to watch pornography, then engaging in torture, decapitation and molestation of the body.

Jurors deliberated just 25 minutes to convict Underwood of murder on Feb. 28. It took them eight hours to choose his fate a week later.