Robert Brian Waterhouse to be executed in Florida for 1980 murder
Florida will execute Robert Brian Waterhouse, a twice-convicted murderer who has spent more than three decades on death row, by lethal injection on Wednesday.
Robert Brian Waterhouse is set to be executed by lethal injection tonight in Florida for the rape and murder of a 29-year-old woman over 30 years ago, Reuters reported.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed Waterhouse's death warrant last month, and the US Supreme Court denied his stay of execution request on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
Waterhouse, 65, had been on death row for the crime for 31 years, longer than any inmate previously executed in Florida, according to Florida Today.
A former plasterer and drywall installer, Waterhouse was arrested for the murder of Deborah Kammerer in January 1980, after he met her at a Tampa Bay area bar, Reuters reported.
Kammerer's body was found the next morning in the low-tide mud flats of Tampa Bay. Investigators found Kammerer's blood samples, hair and other fibers in Waterhouse's car, and autopsy reports show she had been raped, beaten and drowned, according to Reuters.
It was not Waterhouse's first conviction: in 1966, he was found guilty of murdering a 77-year-old Long Island woman during a burglary. He was sentenced to life but was paroled after eight years, the AP reported.
Waterhouse is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. local time at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, Reuters reported. He will be the fourth inmate executed in the United States this year.
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