'Too fat' inmate faces execution Tuesday in Ohio
October 11, 2008 15:20 EDT

AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A man who claims he's too fat to die by lethal injection faces execution Tuesday.

Richard Cooey was convicted in the deaths of two young women killed after he told one victim's mother on the phone that he had rescued them on the highway and they were safe.

The "fat inmate" claim landed Richard Cooey in the headlines, but his crimes remain deeply painful for families that have waited 22 years for him to be put to death.

Killed were 20-year-old Dawn McCreery and 21-year-old Wendy Offredo, sorority sisters at the University of Akron.

McCreery's mother remembers her daughter as artistic, funny and opinionated.

Offredo's brother says he believes his sister would have made a difference in the world but no one will ever know.