On April 27th, 2001, Brad Sigmond smoked crack, drank alcohol, and then broke into the South Carolina home of David and Gladys Larke. He brutally bludgeoned the couple to death with a baseball bat. He then waited for the Larke's daughter, Rebecca Barbare, his ex-girlfriend, to return home, kidnaping her at gunpoint and forcing her into his car. He would later shoot her as she tried to escape.
Rebecca survived her injuries. Sigmond would later state that he intended to kill Rebecca and then himself, saying that if he couldn't have her, then no one could.
In 2002, he was convicted of the murders and was sentenced to death. After years of appeals and pleas for clemency, Justice for the Larkes was finally served. On March 7th, 2025, at 6:08 p.m., Brad Sigmond was pronounced dead.
The life of a depraved murderer came to an end, but what makes the execution of Brad Sigmond unique is the manner in which his death sentence was carried out. Sigmond became the first death row inmate in the United States since 2010 and only the fourth since 1977 to die by firing squad.
Three Department of Corrections sharpshooters fired on Sigmon, on death row for the 2001 beating deaths of David and Gladys Larke of Taylors. https://t.co/zUl1WZtBto
— The Greenville News (@GreenvilleNews) March 8, 2025
In South Carolina, inmates who are condemned to die must choose the method of their execution. They have three choices. Lethal injection, the electric chair, or firing squad. If an inmate fails or refuses to choose, the electric chair is the default option.
Sigmon’s execution made him the first person to die by firing squad in the U.S. since Utah's Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010 and the fourth since 1977. Sigmon's attorneys said the Greenville man chose the firing squad because of concerns about the effectiveness of the lethal injection drug used for executions. The electric chair was his other option.
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Three volunteer corrections officers carried out the execution.
Three South Carolina Department of Corrections sharpshooters, who volunteered for the duty, fired on a hooded Sigmon with rifles at 6:05 p.m., according to Chrysti Shain, spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Corrections. A doctor pronounced him dead three minutes later.
After a last meal of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which he reportedly shared with other death row inmates, Sigmond was strapped to a chair, his head was covered, a target was placed over his heart, and his sentence was carried out.
According to witnesses, Sigmon was strapped to a metal chair with his right shoulder facing them. The chair was mounted on a metal platform in the corner of the execution chamber that also included the electric chair. After the warden gave the execution order, the firing squad aimed and fired their rifles all at once through a hole in a wall facing Sigmon.
Witnesses included members of the media and representatives of the Larke family.
South Carolina has carried out the first execution by firing squad in the U.S. since 2010.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 8, 2025
Brad Sigmon was convicted of brutally bludgeoning to de*th his ex-girlfriend's parents.
He was executed at 6:08PM today. pic.twitter.com/tKWICKj3e7
Justice served. Brutal? Maybe. But so were the murders he committed. Actions have consequences, and South Carolina just reminded the world of that.
— Seek & Expose (@SeekandExpose) March 8, 2025
Brutal is what Sigmond did to David and Gladys Larke.
He should not have been on death row for 24 years. It was a waste of resources. He should’ve never had a chance to grow old.
— Molly Pitcher (@AmericanMama86) March 8, 2025
The appeals process for death penalty cases is intentionally slow and deliberate, but twenty-four years?
Brad Sigmond was put to death by firing squad tonight in South Carolina. In 2001, he beat his estranged girlfriends parents, David and Gladys Larke, to death with a baseball bat. pic.twitter.com/gQTwzEWP94
— Booker (@RealBookerScott) March 8, 2025
Too often, in death penalty cases, discord surrounds the punishment of the condemned instead of justice for the victims.
The Larkes were guilty of nothing. The couple, who were providing a home to their daughter and grandchildren, were brutally murdered. David was 62, and his wife Gladys was 59.
May their memory be a blessing, and may they rest in peace.
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