Curtis Windom, a 59-year-old man convicted of a triple murder in 1992, was executed by lethal injection on Thursday at Florida State Prison, marking the state’s 11th execution in 2025 — the highest number in a single year in Florida’s modern history.
Windom was sentenced to death for the killings of his girlfriend Valerie Davis, her mother Mary Lubin, and Johnnie Lee, a man he claimed owed him $2,000. The murders occurred on November 7, 1992, in the Orlando area.
Witnesses said Windom’s face was covered by a sheet when the curtain to the execution chamber was raised. He appeared to say something about being on death row, but his words were unclear. As the lethal drugs took effect, he took several deep breaths, his legs twitched briefly, and then he became still. He was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m.
At a news conference following the execution, Kemene Hunter, the sister of victim Valerie Davis, wore a T-shirt that read, “Justice for her, healing for me.” “All I want to say is, it took 33 years to get some closure,” she said. Quoting scripture, she added, “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.”
Windom was the 30th person executed in the United States this year. Florida, under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, has led the nation in executions following a surge in signed death warrants. The state is set to carry out a 12th execution on September 17, when David Joseph Pittman, 63, is scheduled to die.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Florida’s previous highest number of executions in a single year was eight, recorded in 2014. In 2025, Texas and South Carolina follow Florida, each with four executions to date.