Florida executed Samuel Lee Smithers, a killer known as the “Deacon of Death,” on Tuesday evening for the 1996 murders of two women whose bodies were dumped in a pond. The execution is the 14th carried out by the state this year, continuing a record-setting pace.
Smithers, 72, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. by lethal injection inside the Florida State Prison in Bradford County, officials announced. The execution chamber curtains were opened at 6 p.m. with Smithers already strapped to the table. When asked if he had a final statement, he declined, only responding with “No, sir.”
For his last meal, the condemned man, who was a Baptist deacon, ordered peanut butter, three packs of oatmeal, water, and two sports drinks.
READ: Naked Florida Man Arrested After Pinellas Park Breaking And Entering Spree
The Murders of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach
Smithers met his victims—Christy Cowan and Denise Roach—on separate occasions in May 1996 outside a Tampa motel on Hillsborough Avenue, an area known for prostitution. Both women, who were prostitutes, were lured to a 27-acre property where Smithers had been hired to perform landscaping work, according to court documents.
The investigation revealed that Smithers engaged in sex with both women before leading them to a carport and murdering them. He then dumped their bodies in one of the property’s ponds.
Days after Smithers was supposed to have finished the yard work, the property owner, who knew the deacon from church, discovered him cleaning an ax near a pool of blood inside the carport. Smithers claimed he had returned to chop down tree limbs and blamed the blood on someone killing an animal.
The property owner called the police, who soon discovered Cowan’s body floating in the pond. She had been seen with Smithers on a security camera just hours before she was found. A dive team later located Roach’s badly decomposed body beneath the water, believed to have been there for at least a week.
The victims suffered similar brutal injuries, including strangulation, lacerations, and chop wounds to the head. Roach was found with 16 puncture wounds and skull fractures. Investigators believe Smithers used both an ax and a hoe in the murders.
During his trial, testimony revealed that Smithers had frequented the Tampa motel multiple times before and had “dated” another prostitute.
Record Year for Executions
Smithers’ death marks a significant milestone, as it is the 14th time Florida has executed a person on death row this year, setting a new record for the total number of executions carried out by the state in a single year.
The state is scheduled to execute two more death row inmates in the coming weeks: Norman Mearle Grim Jr. on October 28 and Bryan Fredrick Jennings on November 13. Grim Jr. was convicted of the 1998 rape and murder of his neighbor, while Jennings abducted, raped, and murdered a 6-year-old girl in 1979.
Smithers’ execution was carried out on the same day that Missouri executed 48-year-old Lance Shockley for the 2005 murder of a Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant.
READ: Florida Man Kayle Bates Executed For 1982 Murder, Extending State Record
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox.
