The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, signed the execution order for Curtis Wilkie Beasley, 77 years old, who was sentenced to death for murdering a 62-year-old woman by bludgeoning her with a hammer in 1995.
Beasley is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on September 29 at Florida State Prison, according to CBS Miami.
This is the sixteenth execution order signed in Florida so far in 2026, amidst an increased pace of capital punishment under the administration of DeSantis.
The victim, Carolyn Monfort, 62 years old and a resident of Dundee, was found dead by her son on August 24, 1995, in the laundry room of her home.
The woman had severe injuries to her head and face, as well as defensive wounds on her arms and hands. Next to the body was the head of a hammer, detached from its handle and wrapped in two kitchen towels.
Beasley knew the family and was staying at Monfort's house while doing painting and pressure washing work at an apartment complex owned by the victim's son-in-law.
After the murder, Monfort's car and 800 dollars in cash that a new tenant had given as a rental deposit disappeared.
Investigators found several garments under a bed in the guest room, including a shirt with blood on it. DNA tests determined that it belonged to Monfort.
Beasley was located and arrested five months later in a hotel in Alabama.
In February 1998, he was found guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft. The jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of ten to two.
The Florida Supreme Court subsequently upheld the conviction and sentence.
Beasley, however, has maintained his innocence. "I did not kill Carolyn Monfort. I did not steal her car or her money," he stated during the sentencing hearing in 1998, as reported by the Lakeland Ledger at the time.
Florida maintains its rapid pace of executions
The new order comes after Florida executed 19 inmates in 2025, the highest number recorded by the state since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976.
As of 2026, 13 inmates have already been executed in Florida, while other executions are still scheduled.
In July, the state carried out two executions on the same day, something that had not happened since 1964.
The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops has reiterated its calls to DeSantis to suspend executions and replace the death penalty with life imprisonment.
"Punishing with life imprisonment does not diminish the atrocity of the crime. Rather, it reverently acknowledges that God is the author of life and reserves the authority to take human life," said Michael Sheedy, executive director of the organization, on Wednesday while requesting clemency in another pending case.
DeSantis has publicly defended the application of the death penalty as a way to deliver justice for the victims' families.
"I don't know if 'closure' is the right word, because there will probably never be total closure. But at least knowing that justice has been served is something very important to many people," the governor stated last month before the Florida Sheriffs Association.
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