Death Row killer taunts sufferer’s household with twisted final phrases as he’s executed
Chadwick Scott Willacy was sentenced to death after he broke into his neighbour’s house, struck her in the head with a blunt object, tied her up and set her on fire while she was still alive
Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, has been executed in Florida(Image: Florida Department of Corrections/AFP via Getty Images)
A death row murderer apologised to his victim’s family before he was executed but used his final words to taunt them by insisting: “This is not right.” Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, maintained his innocence over the 1990 killing of his neighbour Marlys Sather.
But on Tuesday, he was given a three-drug lethal injection at 6pm at Florida State Prison in the US and was pronounced dead at 6.15pm. Marlys’ only son John, attended the execution and watched Wallacy draw his final breath.
Before his execution, Willacy urged his “brothers on the row” to remain strong and added: “To the victim’s family, I hope this brings you peace. If it does, that’s good. But this is not right.”
Willacy spent 36 years on death row in Starke, Florida, after being of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and arson.
Court records indicate Marlys returned to her Palm Bay home for her lunch break on September 5, 1990, and found Willacy burgling her home.
Prosecutors said he struck her in the head with a blunt object, which fractured her skull, then bound her hands and ankles with wire and tape.
Willacy attempted to strangle her with a telephone cord then doused her in petrol and set her on fire, investigators said.
An autopsy found Marlys died from smoke inhalation, which indicated she was still alive when she was set alight.
Willacy also stole her car and other items from her home and used her ATM card to steal cash, officials said.
When Marlys failed to return from her break, her boss called her family and her son-in-law found her body after going round to check on her.
Willacy was sentenced to death a year later after by a 9-3 jury recommendation.
Then in 1994, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing because the trial judge failed to allow defense 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.
His execution is Florida’s fifth execution of 2026.
And it comes after a record 19 executions carried out in the state last year.
Republican Gov. 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 had been set in 2014 with eight executions.
After the execution, Marlys’ family said in a statement which said: “We have waited 36.5 years for justice for our mom.
“Our mother, Marlys Mae Sather should be remembered as a beautiful and loving daughter, wife, mother of 3, grandmother of 5, great grandmother of 5, aunt, cousin and friend,’ it said in part.”
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