Chadwick Willacy Scheduled to be Executed April 21 for 1990 Palm Bay Murder
By Space Coast Daily // March 14, 2026
sixth execution warrant issued by DeSantis this year
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Chadwick Willacy, 58, who is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection April 21 at Florida State Prison.
The order marks the sixth execution warrant issued by DeSantis this year.
According to court records, Willacy was convicted in the Sept. 5, 1990, killing of his neighbor, Marlys Mae Sather, 56.
Investigators said Sather returned home unexpectedly from work and found Willacy burglarizing her home.
He struck her several times with a blunt object, bound her hands and ankles, and attempted to strangle her with a telephone cord before setting the house on fire.
Authorities said Willacy poured gasoline on Sather, disabled the home’s smoke detectors and placed a fan near her feet to help fuel the fire. The medical examiner determined Sather died from smoke inhalation, indicating she was alive when the fire began.
Evidence tied Willacy to the crime, including Sather’s checkbook found at his home and ATM photos showing him attempting withdrawals with her stolen bank card and vehicle nearby.
Willacy was convicted in 1991 of first-degree murder, burglary with assault, robbery with a firearm and arson. After the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new penalty phase in 1994, a jury again recommended the death penalty in 1995 by an 11–1 vote. Subsequent appeals and habeas petitions were denied in state and federal courts.
Two other executions are also scheduled in Florida: Michael King, 54, for the 2008 abduction and murder of Denise Amber Lee, and James Aren Duckett, 68, a former police officer convicted in the 1987 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
Florida has carried out three executions so far in 2026 after setting a modern-era record of 19 executions in 2025.
