The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, signed the execution order for Willie Seth Crain Jr., 80 years old, convicted of the kidnapping and murder of Amanda Victoria Brown, a seven-year-old girl who disappeared in September 1998 in Hillsborough County, near Tampa. The child's body was never found.
The execution is scheduled for December 10, 2026, at 6:00 p.m., by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford.
If the scheduled dates for two more executions are met, Crain would become the 22nd person executed in the state this year, a figure unprecedented in the modern era of the death penalty in Florida.
Crain was sentenced to death in November 1999 for first-degree premeditated murder and received an additional life sentence for kidnapping.
Although the courts upheld the convictions, the man has maintained his innocence for nearly 27 years.
What happened to Amanda Brown in September 1998?
According to court documents, Crain met Kathryn Hartman, Amanda's mother, in a bar in Hillsborough County, where one of the woman's older daughters worked.
The meeting occurred just a few days before the girl went missing.
The next day, Crain visited Hartman's trailer in Seffner, east of Tampa, where he spent time with Amanda, helped her with her schoolwork, and played with her.
Later, the three went to Crain's trailer to watch movies and returned to Hartman's house, where they spent the night.
According to the mother's testimony, Crain provided him with five Valium pills to relieve bodily pain.
Hartman stated that she fell asleep and when she woke up on the morning of September 11, 1998, both Crain and Amanda had vanished.
The woman later managed to get in touch with Crain, who stated that he was loading his vessel at a dock and was unaware of the minor's whereabouts.
Hartman reported the disappearance, which triggered an intense search in the Tampa Bay area.
Crain was initially interrogated and released, but weeks later he was arrested and charged with the kidnapping and murder of Amanda.
Researchers suspected that the man, who worked as a commercial crab fisherman, had thrown the girl's body into the waters of Old Tampa Bay, where he set his fishing traps.
The authorities suspended the official search for the body after several days, although numerous volunteers continued to scour the area.
Some came from other states, including Texas and Utah. Despite these efforts, Amanda's remains were never found.
The evidence that led to the conviction of Willie Seth Crain
The prosecution presented biological evidence during the trial that linked Crain to the disappearance of the minor.
Among them were traces of Amanda's blood found in the defendant's bathroom and on his underwear, identified through forensic analysis.
The prosecutors also noted the presence of recent scratches on Crain's body.
The defense questioned the value of those indications and argued that the injuries could have occurred while working with the crab traps.
The judicial process was marked by the absence of the victim's body, a circumstance that the defense attorneys used to challenge the strength of the accusation.
The prosecution maintained, however, that the evidence gathered was sufficient to prove both the kidnapping and the premeditated murder.
During the sentencing phase, three women also testified that they had been sexually abused by Crain years earlier.
Two testified that the accused had threatened them with using their bodies as bait for crabs if they revealed what had happened.
Crain had a history of sexual offenses against minors.
In 1985, he had been convicted of sexual assault in a separate case and received a 20-year prison sentence, although he was granted parole in 1997, approximately a year before Amanda's disappearance.
The defense presented evidence of the abuses suffered by Crain during his childhood as part of the arguments to avoid the death penalty.
The jury recommended unanimously the death penalty after deliberating for less than two hours.
In November 1999, the court imposed the death penalty for first-degree murder and life imprisonment for kidnapping.
Crain appealed the sentence and maintained his innocence
After his conviction, Crain began a legal battle to try to overturn the ruling.
Among their arguments were the alleged insufficiency of evidence to demonstrate the premeditation of the murder and objections to the instructions given to the jury regarding the elements constituting kidnapping.
His lawyers also questioned the application of certain aggravating circumstances and the constitutionality of the death penalty. Crain argued that his criminal record had adversely affected his chances of receiving a fair trial.
In 2004, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the convictions and sentences, rejecting the central arguments of the appeal.
The condemned has remained on death row since then. The new order signed by DeSantis sets the execution date and establishes the timeline for any judicial proceedings that may still be filed.
Florida could end 2026 with a record of 22 executions
The order against Crain comes amid an increase in executions in Florida under the administration of Ron DeSantis.
In 2025, the state recorded 19 executions, far exceeding its previous annual high of eight since the United States reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Florida has now matched that figure in 2026 with the execution of Jesse Guardado, carried out on November 5. Guardado had been sentenced for the murder of Jackie Malone, a 75-year-old community activist, which occurred in 2004 in Walton County.
Before Crain's execution, two other executions are scheduled:
- November 19: Thomas Mitchell Overton, convicted of the murder of Susan and Michael MacIvor in the Florida Keys.
- December 1: Ricardo González, sentenced for the murder of police officer Steven Bauer during a bank robbery in 1992.
- December 10: Willie Seth Crain Jr., convicted for the kidnapping and murder of Amanda Brown in 1998.
If the three executions take place as planned, Florida would end 2026 with 22 people executed, surpassing its record from the previous year.
DeSantis has defended the increase in execution orders by arguing that the families of the victims have been waiting for decades for the court sentences to be carried out.
During his first six years as governor, nine executions took place in Florida. The pace increased significantly during his last two years in office, during which he authorized over thirty, according to data cited by Florida Bulldog.
DeSantis will leave office in January 2027, at the end of his second consecutive term, the maximum allowed by the state constitution.
Death row exonerates call to halt executions
The increase in executions has also sparked criticism from organizations opposed to the death penalty and from individuals who were sentenced to death and later exonerated.
A group of activists, including former inmates from Florida's death row, called for an initiative in Tallahassee to request that the elected governor Byron Donalds implement a temporary halt to executions when he takes office.
The organization Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty has supported the call for a moratorium to review the procedures and pace of capital punishment implementation.
Jeff Hood, spiritual advisor to several executed inmates, sent a letter to Donalds requesting a six-month suspension, from January 5 to July 5, 2027, along with an independent investigation into the procedures and their consequences.
Donalds, for his part, had stated in March that if he were to become governor, he would seek to ensure that violent offenders faced the judicial consequences of their actions swiftly.
Crain's execution is scheduled for December 10, while efforts by organizations calling for a review of the death penalty policy in Florida continue.
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