STARKE, FL — Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, is scheduled for execution by lethal injection at 6 p.m. today (Tuesday, October 14, 2025), at Florida State Prison near Starke. The execution follows a death warrant signed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Smithers was convicted in 1999 on two counts of first-degree murder for the killings of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach. Court records state that in May 1996, Smithers met the women on separate occasions at a Tampa motel, where he paid them for sex. At the time, he was performing landscape maintenance on a 27-acre property with three ponds in rural Plant City, Florida, where the victims’ bodies were later found.
This execution marks Florida’s 14th death sentence carried out in 2025, setting a new state record for the most executions in a single year.
Source: Florida Department of Corrections
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