Latest news with #CarmenGayheart
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Time of India
Who is Anthony Wainwright, the Florida man set to be executed for a 1994 rape and murder?
Anthony Wainwright, a 54-year-old Florida death row inmate, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Tuesday at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of the 1994 abduction, rape , and murder of 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart , a mother of two, in Lake City. Wainwright would become the sixth person executed in Florida this year, matching the number carried out in 2023. His execution is one of four scheduled across the U.S. this week. Wainwright and his accomplice, Richard Hamilton, had escaped from a North Carolina prison in April 1994. After stealing a car and burglarizing a home, the pair drove to Florida. When their stolen Cadillac broke down in Lake City, they targeted Gayheart in a supermarket parking lot. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Remember Charlie Sheen's Ex-Wife? You Won't Believe What She Looks Like Now! Click Here Undo According to court records, the men forced Gayheart into her Ford Bronco at gunpoint, raped her in the backseat, and later attempted to strangle her before shooting her twice in the head. Her body was dragged several yards off the road. The two were arrested the next day in Mississippi after a shootout with police. A Florida jury convicted Wainwright in 1995 of murder, rape, kidnapping, and robbery, recommending a death sentence. Hamilton, who was also sentenced to death, died in prison in January 2023. Live Events Wainwright's attorneys have spent decades challenging his conviction and sentence, citing alleged brain damage, intellectual disability, and multiple trial irregularities. Their most recent appeals included claims of suppressed DNA evidence, improper jury instructions, misleading prosecution arguments, and unreliable jailhouse informant testimony. However, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Wainwright's final appeals on Monday without comment. Carmen Gayheart's sister, Maria David, plans to witness the execution. 'Three decades is too long to wait for justice,' she told the Associated Press. 'You have to relive it again and again with each appeal.' David said her sister, who was studying to become a nurse, was a patient and loving mother who deserved to be remembered. 'She was here, she mattered, she was loved,' David said. 'I've kept every court filing in a book. Now I'm waiting to add the final page—the one that says he's been executed.'
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
Florida set to execute man convicted of raping and killing a woman 3 decades ago
A man convicted of raping and killing a woman three decades ago after kidnapping her from a supermarket parking lot in Florida is scheduled to be executed Tuesday. Anthony Wainwright, 54, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted in the April 1994 killing of 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart, a mother of two young children, in Lake City. Wainwright would be the sixth person put to death in Florida this year. The state also executed six people in 2023, but only carried out one execution last year. There are four executions scheduled around the country this week, including another one on Tuesday in Alabama. On Monday an Oklahoma judge granted a temporary stay of execution for a man scheduled to be put to death Thursday. Richard Hamilton, the other man convicted in Gayheart's killing, was also sentenced to death. But he died on death row in January 2023 at the age of 59. Gayheart's sister, who plans to attend the execution, said three decades is too long to wait for justice. 'It's ridiculous how many appeals they get,' Maria David told The Associated Press, adding that each step of the appeals process reopened her family's wounds. 'You have to relive it again because they have to tell the whole story again.' Wainwright and Hamilton escaped from prison in North Carolina, stole a green Cadillac and burglarized a home the next morning, taking guns and money. Then they drove to Florida and when the Cadillac began to have problems in Lake City, they decided to steal another vehicle. They confronted Gayheart, a community college student, on April 27, 1994, as she loaded groceries into her blue Ford Bronco, according to court documents. They forced her into the vehicle at gunpoint and drove off. They raped her in the backseat and then took her out of the vehicle and tried to strangle her before shooting her twice in the back of the head, court filings say. They dragged her body several dozen yards from the road and drove off. The two men were arrested in Mississippi the next day after a shootout with police. A jury in 1995 convicted Wainwright of murder, kidnapping, robbery and rape and unanimously recommended that he be sentenced to death. Wainwright's lawyers have filed multiple unsuccessful appeals over the years based on what they said were problems with his trial and evidence that he suffered from brain damage and intellectual disability. Since his execution was scheduled, his lawyers have argued in state and federal court filings that his execution should be put on hold to allow time for courts to hear additional legal arguments in his case. In a filing with the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyers argue that his case has been 'marred by critical, systemic failures at virtually every stage and through the signing of his death warrant.' Those failures include flawed DNA evidence that wasn't disclosed to the defense until after opening statements, erroneous jury instructions, inflammatory and inaccurate closing arguments and missteps by court-appointed lawyers, the filing says. The filing also says that a jailhouse informant who testified at Wainwright's trial finally admitted last month that he and another informant had testified in exchange for lighter sentences, a fact that had not been disclosed to the defense. The Supreme Court on Monday denied Wainwright's final appeals without comment. David, Gayheart's sister, said she feels cheated that Hamilton died before the state could execute him. She said she was 'overcome with emotion' when she heard the governor had signed a death warrant for Wainwright. Her parents both died while waiting for justice to be served, she said, but she plans to be there to witness the final chapter of her family's tragedy. 'There's nothing that would keep me from seeing this all the way through,' she said. Her sister loved animals and surprised her by training to become a nurse rather than a veterinarian, David said. Gayheart was two years younger than her sister but became a mother first, and David said she marveled at her sister's patience with her young children. 'She was here, she mattered, she should be remembered, and she was loved,' David said of her sister. Over the years, she has kept a book where she put every court filing, from the initial indictment through the latest appeals. 'I'm looking forward to getting the last pieces of paperwork that say he's been executed to put into the book and never having to think about Anthony Wainwright ever again,' she said.
Associated Press
9 hours ago
- Associated Press
Florida set to execute man convicted of raping and killing a woman 3 decades ago
A man convicted of raping and killing a woman three decades ago after kidnapping her from a supermarket parking lot in Florida is scheduled to be executed Tuesday. Anthony Wainwright, 54, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted in the April 1994 killing of 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart, a mother of two young children, in Lake City. Wainwright would be the sixth person put to death in Florida this year. The state also executed six people in 2023, but only carried out one execution last year. There are four executions scheduled around the country this week, including another one on Tuesday in Alabama. On Monday an Oklahoma judge granted a temporary stay of execution for a man scheduled to be put to death Thursday. Richard Hamilton, the other man convicted in Gayheart's killing, was also sentenced to death. But he died on death row in January 2023 at the age of 59. Gayheart's sister, who plans to attend the execution, said three decades is too long to wait for justice. 'It's ridiculous how many appeals they get,' Maria David told The Associated Press, adding that each step of the appeals process reopened her family's wounds. 'You have to relive it again because they have to tell the whole story again.' Wainwright and Hamilton escaped from prison in North Carolina, stole a green Cadillac and burglarized a home the next morning, taking guns and money. Then they drove to Florida and when the Cadillac began to have problems in Lake City, they decided to steal another vehicle. They confronted Gayheart, a community college student, on April 27, 1994, as she loaded groceries into her blue Ford Bronco, according to court documents. They forced her into the vehicle at gunpoint and drove off. They raped her in the backseat and then took her out of the vehicle and tried to strangle her before shooting her twice in the back of the head, court filings say. They dragged her body several dozen yards from the road and drove off. The two men were arrested in Mississippi the next day after a shootout with police. A jury in 1995 convicted Wainwright of murder, kidnapping, robbery and rape and unanimously recommended that he be sentenced to death. Wainwright's lawyers have filed multiple unsuccessful appeals over the years based on what they said were problems with his trial and evidence that he suffered from brain damage and intellectual disability. Since his execution was scheduled, his lawyers have argued in state and federal court filings that his execution should be put on hold to allow time for courts to hear additional legal arguments in his case. In a filing with the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyers argue that his case has been 'marred by critical, systemic failures at virtually every stage and through the signing of his death warrant.' Those failures include flawed DNA evidence that wasn't disclosed to the defense until after opening statements, erroneous jury instructions, inflammatory and inaccurate closing arguments and missteps by court-appointed lawyers, the filing says. The filing also says that a jailhouse informant who testified at Wainwright's trial finally admitted last month that he and another informant had testified in exchange for lighter sentences, a fact that had not been disclosed to the defense. The Supreme Court on Monday denied Wainwright's final appeals without comment. David, Gayheart's sister, said she feels cheated that Hamilton died before the state could execute him. She said she was 'overcome with emotion' when she heard the governor had signed a death warrant for Wainwright. Her parents both died while waiting for justice to be served, she said, but she plans to be there to witness the final chapter of her family's tragedy. 'There's nothing that would keep me from seeing this all the way through,' she said. Her sister loved animals and surprised her by training to become a nurse rather than a veterinarian, David said. Gayheart was two years younger than her sister but became a mother first, and David said she marveled at her sister's patience with her young children. 'She was here, she mattered, she should be remembered, and she was loved,' David said of her sister. Over the years, she has kept a book where she put every court filing, from the initial indictment through the latest appeals. 'I'm looking forward to getting the last pieces of paperwork that say he's been executed to put into the book and never having to think about Anthony Wainwright ever again,' she said.
USA Today
3 days ago
- USA Today
She stopped at the grocery store before picking up her kids. She was never seen alive again
She stopped at the grocery store before picking up her kids. She was never seen alive again More than 30 years after after Carmen Gayheart was kidnapped in broad daylight, raped and murdered, one of her killers is set to be executed in Florida on Tuesday. USA TODAY is remembering her life. Brick by brick, Carmen and Ricky Gayheart watched as their dream home took shape on a 5-acre piece of heaven in northern Florida. They chose the tiny town of Fort White to raise their family and escape the crime in South Florida. The high school sweethearts spent two years living in a trailer on the wooded property as they worked on the house and finally moved in with their 3-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. Once the home was finished, the young couple hung a sign outside: "Welcome to the Gayheart Corral." Then on April 27, 1994, the stuff of nightmares befell the Gayhearts. Carmen, who was just 23, was raped and murdered after two North Carolina prison escapees kidnapped her while she was on a grocery store run in the middle of the day and fled. Carmen's family was among dozens who searched for any sign of her for five days before sheriff's deputies found her brutalized body off a remote dirt road. Her husband and children moved out of the dream home soon after. "It was a beautiful house and she didn't even get a chance to enjoy it," her sister, Maria David, told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview. "She had just moved in and she was excited. She couldn't wait for us to see it." David added: "I was so happy for her." Now more than 30 years later, Carmen's family is preparing to close at least one chapter of their tragic story as one of her killers, Anthony Wainwright, is executed in Florida on Tuesday. As U.S. executions ramp up this year, USA TODAY is revisiting the criminal cases that led to the tragic deaths of victims and the ongoing trauma for their families and communities. What happened to Carmen Gayheart? On April 24, 1994, Anthony Wainwright and Richard Hamilton escaped from prison in Newport, North Carolina. Wainwright was serving 10 years for breaking and entering, Hamilton 25 years for armed robbery. The men stole a Cadillac and guns and headed south. Three days and nearly 600 miles later, Wainwright and Hamilton spotted a pretty brunette walking into a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Lake City, Florida. It was Carmen Gayheart. She had just finished up a class at nursing school and was stopping at the store on her way to pick up her 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son from daycare. Carmen's arms were full of groceries when the men attacked her at gunpoint in the parking lot and shoved her into her blue Bronco. Though it was broad daylight, no one is believed to have witnessed her abduction. Carmen's disappearance set off a frantic search, during which hundreds of volunteers scoured the area for any sign of her. Her body was found five days later. She had been raped and shot twice in the back of the head. She was still wearing a shirt in her favorite color: pink. Wainwright and Hamilton were captured the next day following a shootout with police in Brookhaven, Mississippi, about 520 miles west of the murder scene. The men, who both survived gunshot wounds, had been driving Carmen's Bronco. Wainwright initially told police that he raped Carmen and that Hamilton killed her. He now denies doing either, though he says he was there, according to his spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeff Hunt. Both men were convicted and sentenced to death. Hamilton died in 2023 of natural causes at the age of 59. Wainwright, 54, is set to be executed on Tuesday by lethal injection about an hour before Alabama executes Greg Hunt by nitrogen gas for the 1988 beating death of a woman he had been dating for a month named Karen Lane. Carmen Gayheart: animal lover, nursing student, doting mother Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Carmen and Maria Tortora were sisters and best friends. As the oldest, Maria was always looking out for Carmen, whom she described as "beautiful inside and out." Carmen loved animals and respected all creatures so much, that she wouldn't even kill a cockroach, her sister told USA TODAY. "She would catch the bug and take it out. I am so serious," said Maria, whose last name is now David. "She would find a way to capture it safely, not hurt it in any way shape or form. She was one of a kind that's for sure." The sisters grew up around the family of Carmen's future husband, Ricky Gayheart, but the couple didn't experience a spark until high school, David said. "We were walking around campus and he started following us around," the 56-year-old West Palm Beach resident recalled. "He said to her, 'I want you to come with me and take a ride in my truck.' And I was like, 'What? She's not going anywhere without me.' I was very protective over her." The young couple soon fell in love and had their first baby when Carmen was 18. They married before the birth of their son two years later. Carmen loved being a mom so much she was planning on a third baby, David said. She had also returned to school to become a nurse and loved taking care of their dogs, cats and one horse. "She loved animals, she loved people, she loved her children, she loved her husband," David said. "She was building something beautiful." Ricky Gayheart, who did not respond to an interview request for this story, previously told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that his wife's murder shattered him. "I loved her very much," he said through tears in an interview just a couple weeks after the murder. "We moved up here to get away from everything down there. We're in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the woods . . . It can happen anywhere. It goes to show you." He added: "She didn't have a mean bone in her body. She's too good for this world." Witnessing a killer's execution David plans on being front and center at Wainwright's execution for "accountability" and because her heartbroken parents can't. Her father died in 2013 and her mother died in 2023. Her mother, Joanne Tortora, told WPBF-TV in 2014 that she had been waiting for justice for 20 years after Carmen's murder. "I have friends who say, 'Oh, you can't move on with your life until you forgive them,' and it's just not going to happen," she said of Wainwright and Hamilton. "I can't find it in my heart. I feel it's a betrayal to my daughter. No, they deserve everything they get and more." David said that her emotions have been running high as she relives terrible memories leading up to the execution and that it's been difficult seeing Wainwright's fiancée post photos on Facebook of the two of them smiling and embracing. "He's had 31 years breathing, phone calls, letters, all of that," she said. "Carmen didn't have 31 seconds." Not only were Carmen's children deprived of their mother but now her son Chad is a father to a 9-year-old daughter named Gabriela, named after her slain grandmother's middle name. Carmen's daughter Jessica also married and is a world traveler in the medical field. To help keep Carmen's memory alive, David started a Facebook page and regularly posts about her sister. "She was here, she was loved, she deserves to be remembered, she mattered," she said. David and her family are holding a prayer vigil outside for Gayheart outside the Florida State Prison in Raiford. The vigil will be streamed live here on Tuesday evening, just before David goes inside to watch Wainwright die. "I look a lot like my sister and I'm hoping that he sees a glimpse of Carmen one more time before he goes to where he's going," she said. "It is pretty intimidating to be in the same room with the people that killed your sister but I feel like the strength will be there and it's something I really have to do."
The Independent
13-05-2025
- The Independent
2 more executions set in Florida, making it 6 so far in 2025
Florida is continuing its rapid pace of executions this year, with one convicted killer set to die this week and another on June 10 who would be the sixth person put to death by the state in 2025. Glen Rogers, 62, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Thursday for the 1995 stabbing death near Tampa of Tina Marie Cribbs. Rogers, who has claimed he killed many people around the country, was also sentenced to death in California for another woman's murder. Rogers was arrested in Kentucky driving Cribbs' car, which he claimed she had lent to him. There were also claims by Rogers and others that he was involved in the O.J. Simpson murder case and was responsible for the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. This came up in a 2012 documentary and in correspondence between Rogers and a criminal profiler, but Los Angeles police and prosecutors said he was not the killer. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a death warrant for Anthony Wainwright, 54, who was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Carmen Gayheart in 1994. Gayheart was abducted from a grocery store parking lot in Lake City, Florida. Wainwright and another man had escaped earlier from prison in North Carolina and were captured in Mississippi after a shootout with police, according to court records. Both Rogers and Wainwright have appeals pending that could delay their executions. There were also six Florida executions in 2023 but only one in 2024.
