Death row rapist and killer executed 30 years after horror crimes
A convicted rapist and killer uttered just two words before he was finally executed after spending 30 years sitting on death row. WARNING: Distressing
WARNING: Distressing
A convicted rapist and killer has finally been executed after spending three decades on death row.
Back in February 1994, Loran Cole brutally murdered 18-year-old John Edwards and raped his older sister Pam while the pair were on a camping trip in the Ocala National Forest, Florida.
The fun camping weekend soon turned into a family’s worst nightmare after Cole and an accomplice began talking to the siblings as they sat by the camp fire.
Striking up a friendly conversation, they offered to show them a nearby pond. But when they got there, they robbed the siblings and mercilessly beat John before slitting his throat.
Leaving him to die in the woods, they took his sister Pam, who was 21 at the time, back to the campsite, where Cole raped her.
The next morning, he raped the young woman again before tying her to a tree and leaving her at the campsite.
She managed to free herself and get help from a driver passing by the area. Police then discovered John’s body lying face down in the woods.
The teen’s throat had been slashed and he had sustained multiple skull fractures from the beating.
During the 1995 trial, Pam emotionally revealed her brother’s last words to the jury during her moving testimony.
“He said ‘I’m sorry’ … because I hadn’t even wanted to go on the hike,” she said.
While Cole and his friend were both convicted of first-degree murder, he was sentenced to death and two life sentences for the murder and rape.
On Thursday, 57-year-old Cole was executed at Florida State Prison 30 years after committing the horrific crime.
Asked if he had anything to say, he uttered just two final words: “No, sir”.
Strapped to the gurney and strapped with leather bindings, he briefly craned his neck to scan those in the galley who had come to watch his final moments, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
After giving a slight now, he laid back down, before the first of the three life-ending drugs were administered through an IV drip.
The first sedated him, the second paralysed him, while the third stopped his heart.
According to witnesses, his body “jerked and trembled” as he took deep, laboured breaths.
12 minutes later, he was dead.
For his final meal, Cole requested pizza, ice cream, M & Ms and soda. He declined to meet with a spiritual adviser but did meet his son Ryan and an old penpal before his death.
“Does not deserve mercy”
The Edward family said that losing their son in such a horrific manner was “the darkest times in our lives.”
“We are void of feelings and empathy for Mr. Cole,” they said in a statement.
“He placed himself into this arena. We could never sanction a reduction in his sentence. He does not deserve mercy.
“Mr Cole has been granted 30 years of life in Florida State Prison.
“During those 30 years, he has been free to read books, study, eat proper meals, sleep in a bed, get medical care, bathe and exercise, receive visitors and to simply exist.
“This is something he brutally took from our son — life. That cannot be undone.”
Speaking about Pam, they said that their daughter went on to become a teacher, professor, wife and mother. “She is our hero,” the parents said.
Chris Spires, a friend of John, said that the chemical engineering student had missed out on countless major life moments.
“We missed his wedding, he missed out on our weddings, watching his kids grow up, his career progress,” Spires told the Tallahassee Democrat.
“I bet you right now he’d be coaching his kids in baseball.”
Fight for stay of execution
On July 29, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Cole’s death warrant.
His lawyers had fought for a stay of execution on the grounds that he had Parkinson’s disease and “suffered from brain damage and mental illness”.
They also claimed he suffered abuse at a state-run reform school in his youth.
A crowd of anti-death penalty protesters were seen outside the prison
prison were pictured protesting Cole’s execution.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty released a statement criticising the execution, citing the alleged abuse Cole suffered in school.
“While there is never a legal or moral justification for the death penalty in modern society, Loran’s execution feels particularly calculated, and particularly hypocritical,” FADP’s statement said.
“Less than a month before the Governor chose Loran for execution, he and the Legislature recognised the lifelong and devastating harm the State caused to children who were sentenced to the Dozier School for Boys.
“The legislation acknowledged their deep suffering and allowed survivors to apply for compensation.
“And yet, tonight we executed a Dozier survivor.”
As of 2024, the death penalty remains a legal form of punishment in 21 U.S. states.
According to the Death Penalty Information Centre, Florida has a current death row population of 288.
This execution was the first in Florida for 2024 and the 13th for the USA.
Shameful detail in hospital parking fine
A man has been left outraged after he rushed his wife, who was in labour, to hospital only to walk out after the birth of his daughter to a parking fine.
X-rated reason English teacher was sacked
A woman has revealed how she was forced to quit her job as an English teacher after her racy side hustle was exposed — and to this day she’s still met with trolls.
‘Hang on’: Radio host becomes grandpa at 37
A popular radio host has revealed he is a grandfather at 37 after his 23-year-old son welcomed his first child.