Florida man who set neighbour on fire during burglary to be executed

A Florida man who set his neighbour on fire after she found him burglarising her home during her lunch break from work is set to be executed.

Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, was scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6pm on Tuesday (local time) at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather.

Court records indicate Sather had returned to her Palm Bay home for her lunch break on September 5, 1990, and found Willacy burglarising her home.

He struck her in the head with a blunt object, fracturing her skull, and then bound her hands and ankles with wire and tape, according to investigators.

Willacy attempted to strangle Sather with a telephone cord, and when that didn’t work, he doused her in gasoline and set her on fire, records show. An autopsy determined that Sather had died from smoke inhalation, indicating she was still alive when she was set ablaze.

Willacy also stole Sather’s car and other items from her home, and used the woman’s ATM card to steal cash, officials said. When Sather failed to return from her break, her employer caller her family. Her son-in-law went to check on her and found her body.

Willacy was sentenced to death a year later upon a 9-3 jury recommendation after being convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and arson.

Then in 1994, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing because the trial judge failed to allow defence attorneys a chance to rehabilitate a potential juror who indicated she could not recommend the death penalty. Willacy again drew the death penalty at resentencing in 1995 on the 11-1 recommendation of a new jury.

This would be Florida’s fifth execution in 2026 if carried out, following a record 19 executions in the state last year. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.

On Tuesday, Willacy awoke at 5am (local time) and remained compliant as the execution hour approached, Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said at an afternoon news conference.

Willacy had a last meal including chicken, tater tots, ice cream and pie. He received visits from his mother, two sisters and a cousin. He did not meet with a spiritual adviser.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon denied Willacy’s final appeal without comment. Last week the Florida Supreme Court also denied appeals filed by Willacy. He had made claims based on the state's refusal to grant public records requests about executions and lethal injection.

A total of 47 people were executed in the US in 2025. Florida led the way with a long line of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.

Another execution is planned in Florida later this month. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, is scheduled to received a lethal injection on April 30. He was convicted of beating and choking his 13-year-old niece to death.

All Florida executions are injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.