Darryl B. Barwick, 56, was jailed for breaking into Rebecca Wendt’s Panama City apartment and stabbing her to death on March 31, 1986.
He had watched the 24-year-old sunbathing outside and then followed her back to her room.
Barwick said he intended to rob Wendt but then killed her as she resisted, stabbing her 37 times as she tried to fight him off.
According to Metro, it was a crime committed months after he was released from prison for a rape.
Barwick was executed Wednesday, May 3, moments after giving some hollow words to his victim’s family.
He had his last meal of fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed peas and cornbread, and a Coca-Cola shortly after 9 am local time.
Barwick was pronounced dead at 6:14 p.m. Wednesday following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied the inmate’s final appeal for a stay of execution earlier in the day.
In the moments before he was executed, the Florida man made an apology to his murder victim’s family.
After being brought into the death camber, Barwick said, ‘I can’t explain why I did what I did. It’s time to apologize to the family … I’m sorry.’
He also claimed that the state needs to show more compassion and kindness for people, going on to criticize Florida’s sentencing of teenagers to life in prison.
Barwick began receiving the sedative at 6:02 p.m. and closed his eyes several minutes later.
The warden checked Barwick’s eyes, shook his shoulders and yelled his name to make sure he was unconscious before the execution continued.
There was no evidence of sexual assault, but medical examiners reported finding semen on a blanket where her body was found.
Barwick was linked to the crime through his confession, the semen stain, and a witness who saw him heading toward and leaving Wendt’s apartment. As well as footprints left inside and outside the apartment.
Barwick had been convicted of first-degree murder, armed burglary, attempted sexual battery and armed robbery in November 1986, and sentenced to death two months later on the jury’s 9-3 recommendation.
The Florida Supreme Court threw out that conviction in 1989 because of prosecutorial misconduct.
Barwick was again convicted at his 1992 retrial, and that jury unanimously recommended death.
He killed Wendt less than three months after he was released from prison for raping a 21-year-old woman at knifepoint, according to court records.
In his confession for Wendt’s killing, Barwick said he stabbed her because he did not want to go back to prison.
DeSantis signed Barwick’s death warrant last month.
