Florida executes man for ’90 carjack killing
Lethal injection is state’s 1st in 3 years
STARKE, Fla. — Florida executed a man on Thursday for murdering a woman in 1990 after he escaped from prison, stabbing her to death in a shopping mall parking lot in an attempted carjacking.
Donald Dillbeck, 59, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, the governor’s office said. He had been convicted in the murder of Faye Vann, 44, in Tallahassee near the state Capitol.
The execution was Florida’s first in nearly four years and the third under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The curtain between the death chamber and the viewing room opened at 6 p.m. Wednesday. When asked if he had any last words, Dillbeck said: “I know I hurt people when I was young. I really messed up.” He also criticized DeSantis.
The execution began at 6:02 p.m., and Dillbeck closed his eyes shortly thereafter. He breathed deeply for a few minutes while his body shook. By 6:07 p.m., his mouth hung open, and he appeared to stop breathing.
Dillbeck was 15 when he stabbed a man in Indiana while trying to steal a CB radio, court records show. He fled to Florida, where Lee County Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall found him in a Fort Myers Beach parking lot. While Hall was searching him, Dillbeck hit the deputy in the groin and ran. Hall tackled him and, as the two wrestled, Dillbeck took Hall’s gun and shot him twice.
Dillbeck was 11 years into a life sentence for killing the deputy when he walked away from a work release assignment catering a meal for a seniors event, according to court records. He then bought a paring knife and walked to Tallahassee.
Vann was waiting for her family when Dillbeck approached her car with the knife and demanded a ride, saying he’d forgotten how to drive, court records show.
Vann honked the horn, tried to drive off and fought back that Sunday afternoon, but Dillbeck stabbed her more than 20 times and slit her throat, the court records say. He crashed the car a short time later and was captured after running from the scene.
Despite a prior escape attempt and an assault on another prisoner, Dillbeck had been placed in a minimum security facility. At the time, a furious Republican Gov. Bob Martinez fired three corrections officials and sought to implement rules to make sure prisoners with life sentences would be held in more secure settings.