DUNDEE, FL — A Polk County man’s final days are numbered after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant this week, more than three decades after he was convicted of bludgeoning a Dundee woman to death with a hammer. Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Sept. 29, at Florida State Prison for the 1995 murder of Carolyn Monfort.
According to court records, Carolyn Monfort was killed on Aug. 21, 1995, at her home in Dundee. Her body was discovered three days later in the laundry room with severe lacerations and bruising to her head and face, along with defensive wounds on her arms and hands.
Investigators found the head of a hammer wrapped in two dish towels near Monfort’s body. The hammer head had broken from its handle. Beasley, an acquaintance of Monfort’s family, had been staying at her home while working at an apartment complex managed by Monfort and owned by her son-in-law.
Investigators said Monfort’s vehicle was missing following her death, along with hundreds of dollars she had recently received from a prospective tenant. A bloodstained shirt was later discovered under a bed in the guest room where Beasley had been staying. DNA testing determined the blood belonged to Monfort.
Beasley fled Central Florida and was eventually located at a hotel in Alabama. Authorities said he had grown a beard and was using the name “William Benson.”
A Polk County jury convicted Beasley in 1998 of first-degree murder, robbery and grand theft auto. The jury recommended the death penalty by a 10-2 vote, and Beasley was sentenced to death.
DeSantis signed Beasley’s death warrant Wednesday, setting his execution for Sept. 29 at Florida State Prison. Nothing further at this time.
SOURCE: Tenth Judicial Circuit
