Recap: Florida executes claw hammer killer. Last meal, final words
Florida has carried out the execution of Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77, by lethal injection, for the barbaric claw hammer murder of Carolyn Monfort, 62, Tuesday, Sept. 29, at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Beasley was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m.
In 1995, Beasley was temporarily staying at Monfort’s Polk County home while doing maintenance work at an apartment complex Monfort managed. Monfort knew Beasley through her daughter’s ex-husband, who knew Beasley from high school. On Aug. 21, 1995, Beasley savagely beat Monfort to death with a claw hammer, then stole $800 and her car. Beasley eventually fled to Alabama and assumed a new identity but was arrested five months after the murder.
He was convicted of Monfort’s murder and sentenced to death on March 21, 2001.
A final appeal for a stay of execution was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon without comment.
Beasley had a last meal of grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream, Florida Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said. He received three visitors and met with a spiritual advisor.
His final words were, “I want to apologize for all the mistakes I made,” per the Associated Press.
It was Florida’s 16th execution of 2026.
Curtis Beasley executed at Florida State Prison, last words
06:32 PM ET, September 29 2026, Kim Luciani
Florida has executed Curtis Beasley by lethal injection. He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m.
“The sentence of the State of Florida v. Inmate Curtis Wilkie Beasley was carried out at 6:12 PM EST,” a media briefing from the Florida Department of Corrections reads.
Beasley’s final words were, “I want to apologize for all the mistakes I made,” per the Associated Press
6 p.m.: Florida execution of Curtis Beasley begins
06:00 PM ET, September 29 2026, Kim Luciani
Beasley’s execution is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
Witnesses from the victims’ families, the inmate’s defense team, the state, and news media are brought into viewing rooms shortly before the scheduled time.
After prison officials read the death warrant and check for any last‑minute court orders, the three-drug lethal‑injection sequence begins.
The first drug is etomidate, a sedative to render the inmate unconscious.
The second drug, rocuronium bromide, is a neuromuscular blocking agent that causes paralysis of voluntary muscles.
The third and final drug, potassium acetate, disrupts the heart’s electrical activity, resulting in cardiac arrest and death.
Once the process is complete, a doctor pronounces death.
Has Florida executed women?
05:32 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
On Sept. 30, barring clemency by Gov. Bill Lee, Tennessee will execute Clara Pike, the first woman executed in the state in more than 200 years. Has Florida ever executed a woman?
Yes. Three, as far as we know.
1848: Celia, an enslaved woman, was hanged after murdering her owner, who was also her father and the father of her four children.
March 30, 1998: Judy Goodyear Buenoano, a.k.a. the “Black Widow,” the first woman to die in Florida’s electric chair, convicted of the murders of her husband, her son Michael, and the attempted murder of her boyfriend. She was suspected in three other deaths but was never charged.
Oct. 9, 2002: Aileen Wuornos, executed by lethal injection for the murders of six of the seven Florida men she confessed to killing between 1989 and 1990.
There is currently one biological woman on Florida’s death row: Tina Brown, convicted of murdering 19-year-old Audreanna Zimmerman in 2010.
Beasley to be 3rd Florida inmate executed in September
05:22 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
Beasley’s execution is one of three in the same month:
Sept. 1: Harold Gene Lucas, convicted of the 1976 murder of his 16-year-old girlfriend, Jill Piper, and the attempted murders of her teen friends, Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice
Sept. 10: Daniel Owen Conahan, Jr., aka the “Hog Trail Killer,” convicted of the 1996 Charlotte County kidnapping and murder of Richard Alan Montgomery
Florida execution 1 day before Tennessee to execute Christa Pike
05:19 PM ET, September 29 2026, Kim Luciani
One day after the scheduled Florida execution of Curtis Beasley, Tennessee plans to execute Christa Pike, the first woman to be put to death in the state in over 200 years.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
Has Florida executed women? Aileen Wuornos, Judy Buenoano among the few
How many people are still on Florida’s death row?
04:58 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
Including Beasley, there are currently 235 people on death row in Florida as of Sept. 29.
It breaks down into 142 White men, 80 Black men, 12 males of other races, and one Black woman.
Florida has the second-most death row inmates after California, which has 565. However, Gov. Gavin Newsom paused executions in 2019, and calls are growing from anti-death-penalty advocates for him to commute all the sentences to life without parole.
Do condemned inmates in Florida get a last meal?
04:35 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
Yes. A death row inmate can request a last meal on the day of their execution, but it must be locally sourced and under $40.
Inmate requests have ranged from fancy to simple to nothing at all. In 1999, Allen Lee “Tiny” Davis asked for and got a lobster tail, half a pound of fried shrimp, six ounces of fried clams, half a loaf of garlic bread, French fries, and 32 ounces of A&W root beer. Serial killer Ted Bundy ordered a more traditional meal of steak (medium rare), eggs over easy, hash browns, toast with butter and jelly, milk, and juice.
John Spenkelink, the first person executed in Florida after a 15-year pause, famously shared some Jack Daniel’s with the prison superintendent. Later complaints from the State Attorney’s Office led to a ban on alcohol in final meals in Florida.
Why is Florida executing so many people?
04:28 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
DeSantis only issued nine death warrants in the five years he served as governor before 2025. Starting in February of that year, he issued 19 death warrants, nearly three times the previous record of eight in one year.
DeSanti didn’t address the change for months, but later said that the victims’ families have waited long enough.
“I don’t take joy in doing that; it’s a weighty thing,” DeSantis said the day of the recent double execution on July 28. “Some of the victims’ families have been waiting a long time, and some of them are just like, ‘when are we going to get justice?’ “
DeSantis has called the death penalty “an appropriate punishment for the worst offenders,” and explained that the reason he didn’t issue many death warrants in previous years was largely due to COVID-19 happening a year into his term.
Curtis Beasley’s last meal
04:24 PM ET, September 29 2026, Kim Luciani
Beasley had a last meal of grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream, Florida Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said during a news conference outside of Florida State Prison, according to the Associated Press.
Florida’s death row inmates are allowed to request a last meal on the day of their execution. The meal must be locally sourced and cost no more than $40.
They are also permitted final visitors. Beasley reportedly had three visitors and met with a spiritual advisor.
Who is next to be executed in Florida?
04:08 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
After Beasley, the next executions scheduled in Florida are:
Oct. 13: William Lee Thompson, convicted of the 1976 kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of 23-year-old Sally Ivester.
Oct. 20: William Reaves, Jr., convicted of the 1986 murder of Indian River County sheriff’s deputy Richard Raczkoski.
How many people have been executed in Florida this year?
03:48 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
Florida has executed 14 people so far in 2026. Beasely will be the 16th.
Feb. 10: Ronald Palmer Heath was sentenced to death for shooting, fatally stabbing, and robbing Michael Sheridan in a wooded area south of Gainesville in 1989.
May 21: Richard Knight was convicted of the stabbing murders of Odessia Stephens and her 4-year-old daughter, Hanessia Mullings.
July 28, Dominick Anthony Occhicone was convicted of killing his former girlfriend’s parents in 1986. At 80, currently the oldest person to have been executed in Florida.
Anti-death penalty vigils held around Florida
03:16 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
In addition to the now-familiar vigil outside the death penalty chamber at Florida State Prison this afternoon, organized by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP), additional vigils will take place across the state, including in Pinellas County, the Jacksonville metropolitan area, North Port, Pensacola, and Tallahassee
Florida Supreme Court shoots down appeal
03:02 PM ET, September 29 2026, C. A. Bridges
Beasley’s attorneys filed an appeal citing his age and declining health, the fact that his death sentence jury recommendation was not unanimous, the short period given to his legal team between the death warrant and the execution, and the opacity of Florida’s warrant selection process, which is entirely under the governor’s discretion.
On Sept. 22, the Florida Supreme Court denied his appeal.
U.S. Supreme Court denies stay of execution
02:50 PM ET, September 29 2026, Kim Luciani
Beasley’s application for a stay of execution, submitted to the United States Supreme Court Monday, was denied by Justice Clarence Thomas without comment Tuesday afternoon.
A petition for a writ of certiorari was also denied. A writ of certiorari is a request to the Supreme Court to order a lower court to send up the record of a case for review.
What was claw hammer killer Curtis Beasley convicted of?
02:37 PM ET, September 29 2026, Kim Luciani and C. A. Bridges
Curtis Beasley is scheduled for execution today, Sept. 29, at 6 p.m., for the 1995 murder of Carolyn Monfort.
On Aug. 21, 1995, Beasley bludgeoned 62-year-old Monfort to death with a claw hammer in 1995 at her Polk County, Florida, home. Monfort knew Beasley through her former son-in-law, who’d attended high school with him. Beasley was working at an apartment complex, owned by the son-in-law and managed by Monfort.
Beasley, now 77, had been staying at Monfort’s home when she was found savagely beaten, with 15 to 20 blows to the head, according to the medical examiner. According to court records, Beasley took $800 and Monfort’s car, then fled. He was arrested in Alabama five months later, working under the assumed name “William Benson.”
Monfort’s blood was found on a shirt identified as one Beasley had been wearing.
On March 21, 2001, Beasley was convicted of Monfort’s murder and sentenced to death.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Recap: Florida executes claw hammer killer. Last meal, final words
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