Florida Man Executed for 1996 Double Murder of Two Women

A Florida man convicted of murdering two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond in 1996 was executed on Tuesday by lethal injection.

Victim & Perpetrator Details:
- Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, became the oldest person executed in Florida’s modern history.
- He was convicted of killing Christy Cowan and Denise Roach.
- Smithers met the victims at a Tampa motel, paying them for sex, while working as a landscaper on a 27-acre property in Plant City, Florida.
Crime Overview:
- On May 28, 1996, property owner Marion Whitehurst discovered Smithers cleaning an axe. He claimed it was for trimming tree limbs.
- Whitehurst noticed a pool of blood; deputies later found drag marks leading to a pond, where the victims’ bodies were discovered.
- Both women had been beaten, strangled, and left in the pond. Smithers later confessed.
Legal Outcome:
- Smithers received two death sentences after his 1999 trial.
- His convictions and sentences were upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.
Execution Context:
- Executed at Florida State Prison in Starke, pronounced dead just after 6 p.m.
- Smithers is the 14th execution in Florida in 2025, setting a new record for the most executions in a single year under Governor Ron DeSantis.
- Florida leads the nation with executions in 2025, with 30 people executed in the U.S. so far this year.

This case marks a grim milestone in Florida’s recent death penalty history, highlighting both the severity of Smithers’ crimes and the state’s accelerated pace of executions under DeSantis.

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