19 December 2025 :
December 18, 2025 - Florida. Frank Walls, 58, White, was executed on December 18.
47th execution of the year in the US, 19 in Florida alone
He received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.
He was accused of, and had confessed to, killing five people in the Fort Walton Beach area between 1985 and 1987. Initially convicted of two murders, he was sentenced to death for one and to 25 years to life for the other. Years later, DNA evidence linked him to a third murder and he eventually confessed to the remaining two. He later pleaded guilty to avoid further prosecution. Walls was sentenced to death in 1988. However, the Florida Supreme Court later overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial. Walls was convicted again in 1992 and sentenced to death.
The first murder occurred on 26 March 1985, when Walls was 17 years old. He killed Tommie Lou Whiddon, a 19-year-old girl who was sunbathing on the beach.
On 16 September 1986, he stabbed 24-year-old Cynthia Sue Condra 21 times and killed her. On 20 May 1987, he raped and killed Audrey Gygi, aged 47. On 22 July 1987, he killed 22-year-old Edward Alger and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Ann Louise Peterson.
The day after their bodies were discovered, Walls was arrested after his roommate provided information to law enforcement officials. At the time, Walls was 19 years old. According to investigators, all of Walls' crimes were sexually motivated.
On 15 December, Walls' attorneys filed a motion for a stay of execution with the U.S. Supreme Court in a final attempt to avoid his death sentence. They presented the argument that Walls should not be executed because he is intellectually disabled, a claim that has been made before various courts over the years.
With the execution scheduled for 6 p.m. (Eastern Time), it appeared that the U.S. Supreme Court had debated his fate for longer than usual. It wasn't until 2:10 p.m. that the Court's decision to deny his petition for a stay was announced.
Representatives of three of Walls' victims' families were present at the execution. Unlike more recent executions, the witness room was filled to capacity, with 23 of the 25 provided chairs occupied.
Walls thanked the executioners for the opportunity to speak and, in his only other legible statement, said, 'I am sorry for all the pain and suffering I caused over the years.'
A priest held his hand and prayed over him throughout the execution.
Other than about six minutes of laboured breathing, the execution went smoothly. At 6:11 p.m., a physician came into the room, looked into Walls' eyes, used a stethoscope to check for a heart rate, and announced his death.
Walls became the 19th person executed in Florida this year, the 125th since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979, the 47th to be put to death in the USA this year, and the 1,654th since the nation resumed executions in 1977.
