BOISE, Idaho — On Wednesday, Feb. 28, Idaho's longest-serving death row inmate, Thomas Creech, is set to be executed at 10 am.
To bring in an insider perspective of Creech, KTVB interviewed its former crime reporter Roger Simmons who refers to his experience talking to Creech as "comfortable."
"Tom comes across as a very personable individual,” Simmons said.
Simmons has been covering Creech's case since early 1979 when his sentence to death was changed to life in prison. This happened after the Supreme Court ruled the death sentence unconstitutional.
"I was given an opportunity to talk to him while he was out of the state pen,” Simmons said.
The next time Simmons spoke to Creech was in 1981 when he was sentenced again to death row.
"He had just pleaded guilty to the murder of Jensen and was seeking the death penalty,” he said.
In a KTVB clip from 1981, Simmons asked Creech, "Tom, can you tell me why you pleaded guilty?” Creech responded, "Because I’m guilty and I want the death penalty." Simons asked, you want the death penalty? Creech responded, yes. Simmons asked, why? Creech said, “Because I'm ready to die."
In 1981 KTVB aired a half-hour special about Thomas Creech’s timeline and his life.
In the special Creech told Simmons, “"it's hard to live with all the things I've done. I mean I have dreams about it. I wake up in the middle of the night."
"Tom considered himself a songwriter. The half-hour special starts out with him singing appropriately; I guess the Hanged Man is coming. That's a song that he wrote,” Simmons said.
During the special Creech talked about his at-the-time 13-year-old daughter and his parents.
“His parents had responded to what he had done, [they said they] were disappointed in him for what he did,” Simmons said.
He even confessed to some of his killings. The first one was when he was just 15 years old.
"I thought at the time that I was doing the right thing,” Creech said in the interview.
"At one time he confessed to 42 murders. Then he brought that down to 26. Over the years he kept changing that,” Simmons said.
After the special, Simmons said Creech’s phone calls were non-stop.
"He called me all the time,” Simmons said.
For one of the scheduled executions, Simmons said he denied being a media witness. He said Creech called him to try to change his mind.
"He said, my family can't be there. And you're the closest to me in terms of family. Which kind of shocked me,” said Simmons.
Creech even shared his preference of how he wanted to be executed.
"He said he'd rather be hanged or firing squad. He hates needles,” said Simmons.
Simmons also asked Creech if he was religious.
"He said, Yeah, I believe in God. And I think that God's forgiven me for all the things that that I've done,” said Simmons.
30 years ago, after his time at KTVB, Simmons went on to be the Manager of the Western Idaho Fair.
"I had two sold-out conferences of Johnny Cash,” said Simmons.
That’s where he heard from Creech one final time over the phone.
“Yeah, Tom, what do you want? I want you to let my girlfriend come in, and I have written some songs I want Johnny Cash to see, and I want you to let her go backstage and meet Johnny Cash and give him my songs,” said Simmons.
Simmons denied the Request. After that, Simmon said he did not hear from him again.
"I may have upset him because I wouldn't take his songs back to Jonnie Cash. So, no, he hasn't called me since then."
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist:
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET NEWS FROM KTVB:
Download the KTVB News Mobile App
Apple iOS: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Watch news reports for FREE on YouTube: KTVB YouTube channel
Stream Live for FREE on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching 'KTVB'.
Stream Live for FREE on FIRE TV: Search ‘KTVB’ and click ‘Get’ to download.