A weirdo killer on Death Row was executed for his sick crimes – but not before he shared tasteless children’s food with his pen pal as his famous last meal.
Florida prisoner Loran Cole, 57, died by lethal injection at 6pm on Thursday after being convicted in 1995 of killing John Edwards, 18, and raping his sister Pam Edwards, 21.
The vile attacks happened in the Ocala National Forest in February 1994. The pair had been on a camping trip when Cole and an accomplice William Paul, 20, beat up John before slitting his throat.
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(Image: Florida Department of Correction)
Cole then raped Pam as John laid there dying, before raping her again the next morning. She managed to free herself and flag down a driver, and police later found her brother dead face down on the ground.
Cole and Paul were both arrested in the days afterwards and convicted of first-degree murder. Cole was sentenced to death and two life sentence while Paul, 50, was sentenced to life, and remains at Cross City Correctional.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Cole was pronounced dead at 6.15pm on Thursday but hours before he had the company of his son Ryan and a pen pal – who he shared his final meal with. A rather childish choice, Cole opted to have pizza, ice cream and M&Ms – all watered down with a soda.
Florida AG Ashley Moody shot back at claims that Cole’s Parkinson’s disease would hinder the process up to the execution, and noted how Florida uses restraints during lethal injection to hinder a prisoner’s movement – adding claims his symptoms would make it difficult to inject the drugs were “both speculative and legally insufficient”.
(Image: LightRocket via Getty Images)
Three minutes into the execution Cole began taking deep breaths and for a brief moment his body trembled, reports the Mail. Five minutes later, the warden shook him, shouted his name and as he was unresponsive – declared him dead.
A statement from the victims’ family said: “Though invisible to others, our daughter bears internal scars that will never go away. She battled years of fear, pain and sorrow. She is our hero.”
(Image: WCBJ / ABC 20)
It added: “We are void of feelings and empathy for Mr. Cole. He placed himself into this arena. He does not deserve mercy.”
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