Nearly three decades after the heinous murders of two women, a man found guilty of the crimes has been executed.
The victims, Christy Cowan and Denise Roach, both sex workers, encountered Samuel Smithers, then 43 years old, at a motel in Tampa, Florida, on separate occasions in May 1996.
At that period, Smithers, who was a Baptist deacon, was employed in landscape maintenance on a sprawling 27-acre property in rural Plant City, which included three ponds.
On May 28, 1996, the property’s owner observed Smithers cleaning an ax in the carport. Upon questioning him, he claimed it was for trimming tree branches on the estate.
Court documents reveal that the owner noticed a pool of blood in the carport. When questioned about it, Smithers suggested that a small animal may have been killed on the grounds.
The property owner, doubting Smithers’ explanation, contacted the police. A sheriff’s deputy visited later that day but found the blood had been cleaned away.
The deputy noticed drag marks leading to one of the ponds.
Upon investigation, the police discovered the lifeless bodies of Cowan and Roach underwater.
The women had suffered severe beatings and strangulation before being left in the pond.
Smithers was subsequently apprehended and, in 1999, he was sentenced to death for two counts of first-degree murder.
His execution took place on Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison near Starke.
When asked for any final statements before his execution by lethal injection, Smithers simply said:
“No, sir”.
More updates will follow.