Carman Deck Missouri Death Row: What did Carman Deck do?

Deck was found guilty of killing James and Zelma Long in their De Soto, Missouri home in an execution-style manner. Deck and his mother’s boyfriend, Jim Boliek, planned a burglary in June 1996 to help Boliek get money for a trip to Oklahoma.

Because Deck knew the Longs’ grandson and had accompanied him to the Longs’ home in DeSoto, Missouri, where the grandson had stolen money from a safe, Deck targeted James and Zelma Long, the victims in this case.

The original plan was to break into the Longs’ home while they were at church on a Sunday. Deck and Boliek drove to DeSoto several times in advance of the burglary to canvass the area. During the robbery, he told the Longs to lie on their stomachs on the bed with their faces to the side once more.

Deck stood at the foot of the bed for about ten minutes, trying to figure out what to do while the Longs begged for their lives.  Deck aimed the gun at Mr Long’s temple, just above his ear and behind his forehead, and fired twice. Deck then put the gun to Mrs Long’s head and shot her twice, once behind the ear and once above it.

Carman Deck is set to be executed by lethal injection at the prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, on Tuesday, May 3 2022 at 6 p.m. Deck will be executed after Gov. Mike Parson and the United States Supreme Court declined to intervene in his case.