A man convicted of raping and murdering a young mother after kidnapping her from a supermarket car park has been executed in Florida, nearly 30 years after the horrifying crime.
Anthony Wainwright, 54, was put to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke on Tuesday evening. He was convicted for the 1994 killing of 23-year-old Carmen Gayheart, a mother-of-two, who was abducted while loading groceries into her car in Lake City.
The execution began at approximately 6.10pm. Witnesses saw Wainwright’s shoulders shudder briefly, and he blinked and took several deep breaths before falling still at 6.14pm. He was officially pronounced dead at 6.22pm, according to Bryan Griffin, spokesperson for Governor Ron DeSantis.
Wainwright made a final statement, but the words were inaudible from the witness room.
The killer became the sixth person to be executed in Florida this year, with another execution already scheduled later in the month. In comparison, six executions were carried out in the state in 2023, but only one the year before.
Tuesday’s execution was one of four scheduled across the United States this week, including one in Alabama the same day. A temporary stay was granted for another scheduled execution in Oklahoma.
Wainwright’s co-defendant, Richard Hamilton, who also faced the death penalty for Gayheart’s murder, died on death row in January 2023 at the age of 59, without facing execution.
‘You have to relive it again and again’
Ahead of the execution, Carmen Gayheart’s sister, Maria David, spoke of the agonisingly long wait for justice.
“It’s ridiculous how many appeals they get,” she told The Associated Press. “You have to relive it again because they have to tell the whole story again.”
David described how each step in the legal process reopened old wounds for her family. Her parents both died while still waiting for the execution to be carried out.
“There’s nothing that would keep me from seeing this all the way through,” she said.
“She was here, she mattered, she should be remembered, and she was loved,” David added, speaking movingly about her sister.
“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.”
Rape, murder and a violent escape
Wainwright and Hamilton had escaped from a North Carolina prison in April 1994 and soon after stole a green Cadillac. They burglarised a home the next morning, stealing guns and money before driving into Florida.
When their car began to malfunction in Lake City, they went looking for another vehicle. That’s when they found Carmen Gayheart.
According to court documents, the pair approached the 23-year-old community college student as she loaded groceries into her blue Ford Bronco. They forced her into the vehicle at gunpoint and drove off.
In the backseat, they raped her. Then, according to court filings, they dragged her out of the car, attempted to strangle her, and ultimately shot her twice in the back of the head. Her body was dumped several dozen yards from the road.
The next day, the men were arrested in Mississippi following a shootout with police.
A Florida jury found Wainwright guilty in 1995 of murder, kidnapping, robbery, and rape, and unanimously recommended the death penalty.
Lawyers cited brain damage and trial flaws
Over the years, Wainwright’s legal team filed numerous unsuccessful appeals, claiming he suffered from brain damage and intellectual disability and that his trial was flawed.
As his execution date approached, lawyers argued in state and federal courts to delay it, saying further legal arguments needed to be heard.
In a filing to the U.S. Supreme Court, they said his case was “marred by critical, systemic failures at virtually every stage and through the signing of his death warrant.”
Those included flawed DNA evidence not disclosed until after opening statements, erroneous jury instructions, inflammatory closing arguments, and failings by court-appointed lawyers.
The Supreme Court denied several of Wainwright’s final appeals on Monday without comment.
But for Carmen Gayheart’s family, especially her sister, the final chapter has now come to a close.