Governor signs death warrant in 1994 Ocala National Forest murder case


View of the execution chamber in a Florida prison [Florida Department of Corrections/Doug Smith].

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Posted July 31, 2024 | By Caroline Brauchler
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After spending nearly 30 years on death row, a man found guilty of a murder committed in the Ocala National Forest in 1994 is slated to be executed next month after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on Monday.

Loren Cole is on death row after being convicted of first-degree murder, armed kidnapping, armed robbery and armed sexual battery after he and another man, William Paul, murdered a man and kidnapped and assaulted a woman in the Ocala National Forest.

Paul was sentenced to life in prison and Cole was sentenced to death for John Edward’s murder and the other crimes. Despite contesting his sentence more than 10 times, Cole is now expected to be sentenced to death at 6 p.m. on Aug. 29.

“The record has been reviewed and there are no stays of execution issued by any court of competent jurisdiction in this cause. Based upon the above-referenced summary of litigation affirming the judgments and sentences of death imposed for first-degree murder, the record is legally sufficient to support the issuance of a death warrant,” wrote Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

On Feb. 18, 1994, Eckerd College student Pam Edwards drove to the Ocala National Forest to meet her brother John Edwards, a Florida State University student, to go camping for the weekend. It was there where they encountered Cole and Paul, who befriended the brother and sister.

The pair robbed and beat John and Pam, then killed John and kidnapped Pam, who was sexually assaulted multiple times by Cole through the following night. Cole and Paul tied up Pam and left the campgrounds. Once she was able to free herself, Pam called the police, who found John’s body and subsequently arrested the two men responsible.

In 1995, Marion County Judge William Swigert sentenced Cole to death by means of electrocution. Since then, lethal injection has become the more standard practice of execution in Florida.

In January 2000, the Florida Legislature passed legislation that allows lethal injection as an alternative method of execution in Florida. Florida administers executions by lethal injection or electric chair at the execution chamber located at Florida State Prison,” according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

According to Florida Statute 922.105(1), executions should be carried out by lethal injection unless the prisoner elects to be executed by electrocution.

Regardless of his sentence of execution by electrocution, Cole will now be executed instead by lethal injection, according to FDC.

Inmate Cole’s execution is set to be carried out by lethal injection per standard protocol,” wrote FDC.

In 2023, FDC Secretary Ricky Dixon reviewed the state’s execution practices and certified that the use of the electrocution chair remains valid, and the state has the equipment, facilities and personnel to do so.

“The process will not involve unnecessary lingering or the unnecessary or wanton infliction of pain and suffering. The foremost objective of the execution by electrocution process is a humane and dignified death,” Dixon wrote to the governor.

Dixon also noted the process should not be of long duration, should be done with transparency, and address the concerns and emotions of those involved.

In the United States, the most common method of execution is by lethal injection, but states still authorize executions through the use of electrocution, the gas chamber, hanging, and by a firing squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Cole will be the first person in Florida to be executed this year, since the most recent execution of Michael Zack, convicted in Escambia County, who was executed in October 2023.

The youngest person sentenced to death in Florida continues to be Micheal Bargo, who is awaiting execution for the 2011 murder of Seath Jackson in Marion County.

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