A serial killer who murdered six gay men offered an apology from 'beyond the grave' after he was executed by lethal injection.
"The I-95 Killer" Gary Ray Bowles, 57, didn't make a final statement when he was put to death at a state prison in Florida on Thursday night.
But a message the "monster" had written while he was on death watch was read to reporters shortly after he was confirmed dead.
Bowles, who blamed gay men after his girlfriend dumped him for being a sex worker, apologised to his mother, saying: "You don't wake up one day and decide to become a serial killer."
His statement read in full: "I'm sorry for all the pain and suffering I have caused.
"I hope my death eases your pain.
"I want to tell my mother that I am also sorry for my actions.
"Having to deal with your son being called a monster is terrible. I'm so very sorry.
"I never wanted this to be my life.
"You don't wake up one day and decide to become a serial killer."
Bowles met his victims in gay bars and beat or strangled them to death.
He humiliated each one by shoving objects down their throats, including a sex toy in one of the murders.
Bowles was sentenced to death for the murder of Walter Hinton, who was one of six men killed during the killer's eight-month spree between Florida and Maryland in 1994.
He was dubbed "The I-95 Killer" because the murders happened along the Interstate 95 corridor on the US east coast.
Bowles was convicted of killing Mr Hinton, and confessed to killing five other men - John Hardy Roberts, David Jarman, Milton Bradley, Alverson Carter Jnr, and Albert Morris.
He was the 99th person to be executed in Florida since capital punishment resumed in 1979.
For his final meal, Bowles ordered cheeseburgers, French fries and bacon.
He is the second inmate to be executed in Florida this year.
The other, serial killer Bobby Joe Long, 65, murdered at least 10 women in and around Tampa in 1984.
