Florida prepares to carry out its sixth execution of the year following Governor Ron DeSantis' signing of a death warrant for Anthony Wainwright, a man sentenced for the 1994 rape and murder of Carmen Gayheart, as reported by WFTV. Gayheart, at 23 years old, had been a community college student at the time of her kidnapping from a Winn-Dixie parking lot in Lake City.
According to details from the case, Wainwright, along with an accomplice who has since died in prison, abducted Gayheart under gunpoint forcing her into her vehicle where they sexually assaulted her before shooting her twice in the head attempting to strangle her first, this gruesome sequence of events unfolded after they had made a previous escape from a prison in North Carolina and according to court records, they were apprehended after engaging in a shootout with police in Mississippi, as described by ClickOrlando.
The impending execution has brought forth complex emotions, with Carmen Gayheart's sister Maria David expressing to ClickOrlando that "it's ridiculous how many appeals they get," explaining the pain involved in reliving the tragedy with each court appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court declined Wainwright's final appeal without comment one day before the scheduled execution.
