Episode 70 - The Simmons Family

In December 1987, over the course of a single week, Ronald Gene Simmons brutally killed 14 members of his own family. They included wife Becky, his children Gene Jr, Loretta, Eddy, Marianne, Becky, Billy, and Sheila, his grandchildren Barbara, Trae, Sylvia, and Michael, his daughter-in-law Renate, and his son-in-law Dennis. 

Not content with slaughtering his family, Simmons then murdered a former co-worker, Kathy Kendrick, and an innocent bystander, Jim Chaffin and wounded many other people in the process.  

It remains one of the deadliest familicides in American history. Simmons was executed by lethal injection in 1990. 

This is the story of the Simmons Family.  

Information and support  

• Samaritans UK Contact Us | Samaritans  
• Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA) Home - AAFDA 
• Women’s Aid Home - Women's Aid 
• National Domestic Abuse Helpline UK 0808 2000 247 
• Mental health support USA Mental Health America | Homepage | Mental Health America 
• Domestic abuse helpline USA 1.800.799.SAFE Domestic Violence Support | National Domestic Violence Hotline  

References  

Ronald Gene Simmons–True Crime All The Time – Apple Podcasts 

Simmons, Ronald Gene - Encyclopedia of Arkansas 

Ronald Gene Simmons - Wikipedia 

Something snapped in Ronald Gene Simmons in December 1987.... - UPI Archives 

Mass Slayer Abused Wife, Got Daughter Pregnant, In-Laws Say - Los Angeles Times 

Credits  

Hosted and created by Clare Laxton @ladylaxton  

Produced by: Clare Laxton   

Killer in the family podcast (buzzsprout.com) 

Music from Pixabay.  

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Simmons Family Case
• 2:14 Becky Simmons' Life and Background
• 5:18 Ronald Simmons: Military Career and Control
• 12:32 Sexual Abuse and Failed Intervention
• 17:52 The Christmas Week Massacre Begins
• 23:45 Spree Killings and Apprehension
• 25:25 Justice and Understanding the Motives
• 29:03 Remembering the Victims

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi there and welcome to Killer in the Family podcast. I'm your host, claire Laxton. Welcome to episode 70 of Killer in the Family. And before we get into this case, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who's messaged me on Instagram at Killer in the Family Pod and left comments on Spotify too. Hearing from you really boosts my week and I love hearing your case recommendations too. Keep them coming. So let's get into this episode, and this one is a really, really tough listen.

Speaker 1: 0:52

In December 1987, over the course of a single week, ronald Gene Simmons brutally killed 14 members of his own family. They included wife Becky, his children Jean Jr, loretta, eddie, marianne, becky Jr, billy and Sheila, his grandchildren Barbara Trey, sylvia and Michael, his daughter-in-law Renata and his son-in-law Dennis. Not content with slaughtering his family, simmons then murdered a former co-worker, kathy Kendrick, and an innocent bystander, jim Chafin, and wounded many other people in the process. It remains one of the deadliest familicides in American history. Simmons was executed by lethal injection in 1990. This is the story of the Simmons family. This is going to be a really tough listen team. Every episode is as we know, but this one in particular. The perpetrator is a real monster and, like so many of the perpetrators we talk about on the podcast, he is a monster who walks amongst us disguised as an ordinary man. There is a special place in whatever you believe is hell for the perpetrator we're going to talk about today. Now, as usual, there are links in the episode notes to information and support if you need it, and links to all my sources. There's an episode of the True Crime All the Time podcast on this case as well, if you want to listen further.

Speaker 1: 2:52

So let's start by talking about Becky Simmons. She was 46 years old when she was killed by her husband and she was born Rebecca Becky Olibara in 1941 in New Mexico in the southwestern United States. According to the LA Times, when she was killed she had quite a few family members living nearby her mother, her stepfather and her siblings. Now Becky had at least four siblings, three sisters from what I can gather from the sources Edith, viola and Tilly, and two brothers, abe and Manuel. Becky was just 18 or 19 years old when she met the man who would later kill her and her seven children. She met Ronald Gene Simmons in 1959 at a USO dance at the local YMCA in Washington. Now the USO stands for United States Organization and it sort of provides entertainment for military personnel in their families. So they met at this dance and then by July 1960 they were married in New Mexico.

Speaker 1: 3:59

Simmons was born in Chicago in July 1940 to parents Loretta and William Simmons. He had a younger sister called Nancy. Now, his father actually died when he was three years old of a stroke and his mother married another man called William within a year. So Simmons had a stepbrother called Pete from his mother's second marriage. The family apparently moved to Arkansas from Chicago, which is a state which is like 600 miles south of Chicago, so quite a long way, and apparently Simmons had a bit of a reputation for being a bully in childhood Well, certainly towards his younger sister and stepbrother anyway. In one source there was also discussions that Simmons was violent towards animals, which is a clear indication of violent behaviour towards people. In later life His parents tried to address his behaviour by sending him to live with relatives and to like a Catholic boarding school, but nothing changed.

Speaker 1: 4:57

Now, when Simmons was 17 years old, he left school and joined the US Navy. He spent the next 22 years serving in the military in some guise or another. In the 60s Simmons left the Navy and joined the United States Air Force and, interestingly, in the early 1970s Simmons was posted for four years at RAF Alconbury, which is in the UK near Huntingdon. I couldn't find like whether his family joined him in the UK, but I thought that was quite an interesting little side note. And according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas quote, during his 22-year military career Simmons was awarded a Bronze Star, the Republic of Vietnam Cross for his service as an airman and the Air Force Ribbon for excellent marksmanship. Simmons retired on November 30th 1979 at the rank of Master Sergeant. So he apparently had a spotless military record which, considering what he does later in life, is quite surprising to me. To be honest, now, away from military life, becky and Simmons went on to have seven children together.

Speaker 1: 6:06

Now there are some conflicting sources about the dates of the children's births and the ages at which they died, but I'm going to try and go with what I found corroborated in a couple of sources and hope they're right here. So first there was Gene Simmons Jr Jr, who was born in 1961. He was just 26 years old when he and his three-year-old daughter, barbara, was killed by his father. The couple then welcomed their first daughter, sheila Marie, who was born in 1963. She was 24 years old when she, her husband Dennis McNulty, and her two children, sheila and Sylvia, who was Simmons' daughter he had with Sheila more on that later and Michael McNulty were killed by her father. Then William Henry or Billy Simmons, who was born in 1965 and was 23 years old when he, his 21-year-old wife Renata and their 20-month-old son Trey were killed by his father. Loretta Simmons was born in 1970 and was 17 years old when she was killed by her father. Eddie Simmons was born in 1973 and was just 14 years old when he was killed by his father. Marianne Simmons was born in 1976 and was just 11 years old when she was killed by his father. Marianne Simmons was born in 1976 and was just 11 years old when she was killed by her father. Becky Simmons Jr, the youngest, was born in 1979 and was just eight years old when she was killed by her father.

Speaker 1: 7:39

Now, before we talk about life in the Simmons family, I just want to talk about Simmons' other victims as well. They weren't members of his family, but they were victims, just like his wife, children and grandchildren. Kathy Cribbins, kendrick, was born in 1963 and she lived and worked in Arkansas. She was just 24 years old when she was shot and killed by Simmons. He had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting Simmons when they both worked together. Simmons was apparently infatuated with her and she rejected his advances. She worked as a receptionist and secretary at the Peel, eddy and Gibson's law firm in Russellville, arkansas, when she was killed by Simmons. And Simmons' last victim was James David Chafin, also known as JD Chafin. He was a part-time firefighter and part-time driver for Taylor Oil Company in Russellville, arkansas. He didn't know Simmons and Simmons didn't know him. He was just an innocent bystander.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Now let's get back to the Simmons family, as there is still lots more to discuss. After Simmons retired from the military, the whole family lived in New Mexico and he took on a range of civilian jobs. Now it won't surprise you, considering the crime we're discussing in this episode, that Simmons exerted control over his whole family, including his wife Becky. His behaviours exhibit a classic perpetrator of coercive control. Even though when Becky first met Simmons, her family and siblings thought he was an ordinary guy, her brother told the LA Times quote you think a serviceman will make a good husband? He did not make a good husband at all.

Speaker 1: 9:21

Simmons controlled Becky's appearance. He didn't allow her to wear makeup, made her always have her hair tied back and only allowed her to wear long dresses. Becky didn't have a driver's license, which is a classic tactic of coercive controllers, because it limits their partner's ability to be independent and have their own life. He also limited her contact with the outside world. Remember, this is the sort of 70s and 80s, so there were no mobile phones. But they also didn't have a phone line in their home, so no landlines either.

Speaker 1: 9:55

Letters were really Becky's only way of communicating with her family and her children once they had grown up. But although she was allowed to write letters, simmons censored them and also apparently later denied her stamps. So she had to secretly ask others to post letters for her. Becky's sister told the LA Times quote he censored her mail, he wouldn't let her have a telephone and he'd stand there if she ever made any calls from somewhere else. And Becky's brother told the LA Times that she was, quote so isolated so she couldn't go anywhere or do anything. The only time she could go out was to wash clothes. Becky once confessed to her sister that she was scared of Simmons. They arranged that if anything ever happened to her, her sister would look after Becky's children. Becky was terrified of his violence and that he might do something to her Quite rightly, it turned out. Now some of you might be wondering why Becky stayed with Simmons if he treated her so badly.

Speaker 1: 10:52

But, as we've talked about before, the power of coercive control cannot be underestimated. It often starts with that love bombing and the perpetrator creating a reliance on them before breaking their partner down and controlling everything they do on them. Before breaking their partner down and controlling everything they do, simmons would have seen Becky as his property and therefore someone he could control and she would have to obey. And Becky's sister articulated this really well when she told the Arkansas Gizzard quote 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. And that is what perpetrators of coercive control do. They break people down, exploit their insecurities, make them believe it's their fault and then demean them and trap them, making them think there is nothing better out there.

Speaker 1: 11:44

Coercive control is dangerous and insidious and understanding it demands compassion and understanding of the impact it has on victims. Now there's an academic called Liz Kelly that talks about the impact of domestic abuse as reducing someone's space for action, their decision making, their choices, their understanding of reality is all affected by abuse and coercive control and the fear of physical and sexual violence. So we can't expect someone to make rational, informed decisions under those circumstances, which are often referred to as intimate terrorism. And Simmons' actions were about to get worse. Not only was he violent and controlling towards his wife and domineering towards his family, but he also sexually abused his eldest daughter, sheila. In April 1981, social services in New Mexico were contacted anonymously about Simmons who had allegedly sexually abused and impregnated his daughter, sheila. It later turned out that the anonymous call came from Gene Simmons Jr, becky and Simmons' eldest son, and social services also received calls from Sheila's friends as well. They came to investigate and in an interview with Sheila she confirmed not only that her father sexually abused her, but that she was also pregnant with his child. She was just 17 years old at this time and she gave birth to her and her father's child, sylvia, in June 1981. Now, apparently, the abuse had occurred, started the year before when Simmons and Sheila were staying in a hotel in Phoenix for a coin collecting show Something that Simmons was interested in but Sheila was not, but went along to please her father.

Speaker 1: 13:30

An investigation took place, as you can imagine, while social services tried to remove the remaining children from Simmons. Apparently, the district attorney claimed that the request to remove the remaining Simmons children was never received. So nothing happened. And and this absolutely baffles me because even if that request wasn't received, once authorities were investigating Simmons so they could see that the children were still there, surely someone somewhere raised it again, but apparently not. Also, simmons agreed with social services to a programme of family counselling, which they did for five sessions before the criminal investigation, and I don't understand this at all either. Surely the criminal investigation would take precedence over allowing Simmons to continue to control his family through counselling. Just super bizarre.

Speaker 1: 14:23

So the criminal investigation was led by a deputy called Jeff Farmer and ended up going to a grand jury, and this was led by District Attorney Stephen Sanders, who said that he had trouble getting Sheila to attend and testify at the grand jury as she didn't want her dad going to prison. More evidence of Simmons' control here Sanders told the LA Times quote we had a lot of trouble prosecuting the case because the daughter refused to testify against her father before the grand jury. We actually had to threaten her with a contempt of court citation. Eventually she did testify and he was indicted. Sheila testified for two hours. She broke down and cried. Oh, I just really hate that quote as well, because it's like holding Simmons accountable for his sexual abuse of his daughter somehow lays on her is her responsibility. They had the child that resulted from that sexual abuse, so they knew that he had sexually abused her. So I'm not sure why it's Sheila's responsibility and why they had to threaten her like classic victim blaming here. Anyway, after the grand jury an arrest warrant was issued for Simmons for three counts of incest. Apparently he could have spent nine years in jail if he was convicted.

Speaker 1: 15:42

In August 1981 sheriff's deputies went to arrest Simmons and found that the whole family had left. At this point Becky's brother said that they tried to get Becky to divorce Simmons, but she refused. Instead she and the children moved with Simmons from New Mexico to near Russellville in Arkansas and the charges against Simmons were actually dismissed in 1982 because authorities couldn't locate him so effectively. He was left alone after being indicted by a grand jury on incest and was left free with his family other children and daughters to move away and live his life, like what actually happened here. Why was he not arrested and removed from his family straight away? Why was he allowed to agree to family counselling also why? Why was it family? What about just him? And why? Why? Why was he left to continue to live with his family, who he clearly posed a risk to, and not convicted straight away or gone to trial straight away? And I know this is in the early 1980s, so maybe their approach to child protection was very different and less understanding of power and control, but still his daughter confirmed and testified to what he did. So why was he allowed to abscond? This is just such a genuinely like such a frustrating and heartbreaking aspect of the story. If he was taken to trial and convicted and taken away from his family, then maybe we wouldn't be here talking about them today. Becky Simmons' brother, described Simmons as an evil man who demanded control of his entire family. I'm sure even he couldn't imagine what Simmons was about to do. We're now going to talk about what happened over one week in December 1987 at the hands of Simmons. Much like Mark Barton, who we talked about in episode 40, simmons not only killed his family but also others as he went on a spree killing after he annihilated his family. This is going to be a really tough listen.

Speaker 1: 18:07

In December 1987, the Simmons family were living near Dover in Arkansas in a site they dubbed Mockingbird Hill. It was effectively a site with like a huge mobile home, surrounded by land and no trespassing signs. The toilet in the house was broken, so the family had to use an outdoor privy, and just before Christmas Simmons ordered his children to dig another pit outside for an additional privy. By this point, some of the older children had left the family home. Jean Jr had married Wilma, and they had a daughter called Barbara. Sheila, who was the victim of Simmons' sexual abuse, had married a man called Dennis and had her daughter Sylvia, as well as another child, michael Billy, had also left the family home and had a wife called Renata, though just before Christmas. Gene Jr had returned to Mocking Hill for Christmas with his daughter Barbara, but his wife couldn't afford to make the trip from New Mexico. Apparently, the next eldest Simmons childoretta was due to graduate from high school the next year and had told her friends how much she was looking forward to leaving the family home as well. She described her father as a drunken bum, and I'm sure that Mockingbird Hill was not a nice place to live for any of the kids or Simmons wife Becky. Now, becky had actually written to her siblings saying how excited she was because her children and grandchildren were all visiting over the Christmas period, something that Simmons actually encouraged, interestingly, mostly because at this point he had decided that he was going to murder his whole family.

Speaker 1: 19:43

On the 22nd of December, simmons enacted the first part of his plan. He first killed his wife, becky, and eldest son, gene Jr. Becky was shot twice and Gene Jr shot four times in the head and once in the stomach. Simmons then killed his three-year-old granddaughter, barbara, by strangling her. He put all of their bodies in the pit that his children had dug for another outdoor privy. Simmons waited for his four youngest children to come home from school, and police believe that he then somehow managed to separate them and he strangled them to death. This was Loretta, who was 17 years old and so close to graduating, and getting away from him. Eddie, who was just 14 years old, marianne, who was 11 years old, and Becky Jr, who was just seven years old. I'm sure they were coming home from school like, full of excitement about Christmas and what it might bring, and then they were just brutally killed by their father, apparently. After he killed them them he held their heads underwater to make sure that they were dead. I just, this is just heartbreaking. Simmons then placed all of their bodies in the pit, outside as well. He then apparently just chilled out, spending the next few days at home getting drunk and shooting at stuff, and this time period covered Christmas Day as well. And when I first started researching this case, I wondered whether Becky and the kids' family and friends might start worrying about them, as they hadn't heard from them over Christmas, like a phone call on Christmas Day or something like you know, a phone call on Christmas day or something. But then I remember they didn't have a landline so probably weren't expecting to hear from them and knew that they were seeing them soon anyway. The level of cold detachment that Simmons must have had to be able to stay in that in that home with for four days, with the bodies of his wife, five children and one grandchild piled up next to the home, I just I cannot with this guy.

Speaker 1: 21:53

On the 26th of December, the plan was for Simmons' children, billy and Sheila, and their partners and children to come and visit. As soon as they arrived at Mockingbird Hill, simmons shot and killed his son Billy and his wife Renata. He then strangled and drowned their 20-month-old child, trey. Simmons' eldest daughter, sheila, and her family then arrived. He shot and killed her and her husband, dennis. He then strangled Sylvia, who was his child with Sheila, and his 21-month-old grandson, michael Michael, who was Sheila and Dennis's child. Honestly, just just reading through this is is absolutely horrific and I it's difficult to comprehend the level of harm here and also just thinking about how it must have been for that family living with Simmons that they all actually wanted to visit for Christmas, probably to see their mum, and that this happens is just it's heartbreaking. After Simmons had annihilated three generations of his family, he lay out the remaining bodies in the lounge and covered them with coats or plastic sheeting. Sheila was covered with one of the family's best tablecloths, which probably indicated how he felt about her. He then left them in abandoned cars on their land. Now I really, really wish that this was the end of the callous and cold murders from Simmons. But sadly he was not finished. He spent another couple of days in his home with 14 dead bodies of his family surrounding it.

Speaker 1: 23:27

Then, on the 28th of December, the first working day back after the Christmas holidays he enacted the final stage of his plan aiming to kill people he thought had wronged him in his life. So on that morning his first stop was Peel Eddy and Gibbons law firm near the town centre of Russellville in Arkansas. He walked into the office and shot and killed Kathy Kendrick by shooting her four times in the head. Police were first called after this shooting around 10.15am. Simmons then headed to an oil company where he had a beef with the boss there, a guy called Russell Rusty Taylor. He entered the company and shot Taylor in the arm, but he didn't die. He then shot and killed bystander and total stranger Jim Chafin, who was just returning from his part-time role as a firefighter. Jim died there and then Police were called again. Next, simmons headed to Sinclair Minimar and shot the owner, david Saylor, and an employee, roberta Woolery, and both survived. Simmons' final stop was a motor freight company. He shot his former boss, joyce, in the head and chest, but she survived. Police were called again. Finally, police arrived and Simmons surrendered and handed over his weapon. He was arrested there and then In May 1988, simmons was found guilty of his crimes in Russellville and in February 1989 was found guilty of murdering 14 members of his family.

Speaker 1: 25:25

He was sentenced to death and waived his right to appeal. In 1990, the governor of Arkansas, future president Bill Clinton, signed the death warrant for Simmons. He was executed by lethal injection on the 25th of June 1990. Now, I am not a supporter of the death penalty, even for someone like Simmons. I think he should have been forced to live with what he did for the rest of his life, with no chance of parole ever.

Speaker 1: 25:56

And, as you can imagine, there has been a whole raft of theories and speculation about why Simmons did what he did In preparation for his trial. His psychiatric assessments found him to have narcissistic personality disorder, which I'm not surprised by, but I genuinely believe that he just saw his wife and children as his possessions and his property for him to have control and power over. Therefore, when his older children started moving out and having families on their own, he felt like he was losing control. It also turned out that some of the older children were trying to persuade their mother, becky, to leave Simmons. Indeed, she did talk about it with them in letters that she managed to struggle, smuggle Simmons. She called herself his prisoner and talked about wanting to leave him. I have no doubt that Simmons could sense that he was losing control of those he perceived to own, especially his eldest daughter, who he had abused and groomed. She had married someone else, and I am sure that that incensed Simmons.

Speaker 1: 27:07

Ultimately, simmons' actions were, I believe, driven by control and power. He was losing it and his family and children were gaining it away from him, and that was unacceptable. We always ask whether, you know, these murders could have been stopped, and in this case I think his power, control and murders could have been stopped. And in this case I think his power, control and abuse could have been severely disrupted if he was arrested and convicted for sexual abuse and incest when he should have been. Again, I just think about how was he allowed to get away? How was he not removed from his family for their safety? And it still baffles me. He had already been proved to be a danger, so he shouldn't have been given any further opportunity to harm his family. This was a severe dereliction of duty by authorities, but from what I can tell, it was sort of never questioned and no one was really held accountable. Once again, the lack of protection for children from someone who has proved to be a danger and the lack of understanding of power and control has cost 16 people their lives, and this episode is dedicated to those 16 people, the ones who lost their lives at the brutal and callous hands of Simmons. Becky Simmons, gene Simmons Jr, barbara Simmons, just three years old, loretta Simmons, eddie Simmons, marianne Simmons, becky Simmons Jr, billy Simmons, renata Simmons, trey Simmons, just 20 months old, sheila Simmons McNulty, dennis McNulty, sylvia McNulty, michael McNulty, just 21 months old, kathy Kendrick and Jim Chafin. We remember them.

Speaker 1: 29:03

This has been Killer in the Family podcast, written and produced by me, claire Laxton. I'll be back next week with a new episode. Don't forget to send me any comments or questions to my Insta at Killer in the Family pod, or through a text via a link in the episode notes. Don't forget, you can buy me a coffee if you like the podcast and help support its running. The link is in the episode notes. Until then, I've been Claire Laxton. This is Killer in the Family podcast. Until then, I've been Claire Laxton. This is Killer in the Family podcast. Until next time, take care, thank you. Thank you.