There are 249 people on death row in Florida.
Six men on death row were convicted of crimes on the Treasure Coast.
These are their stories, compiled from court records and TCPalm archives and organized by the county in which the murders were committed:
Indian River County
Rodney Lowe
Age: 54
Offense date: July 3, 1990
Sentence date: May 1, 1991
Details of crime: Lowe, then 21, fatally shot store clerk Donna Burnell in an attempted robbery of Nu Pack Market on County Road 512. Burnell was found with gunshot wounds in her head and heart, her 3-year-old nephew kneeling beside her crying.
In 2012, Lowe was sentenced to death for a second time after a jury unanimously voted to recommend he be executed during a resentencing proceeding.
The latest: The Florida Supreme Court in October 2018 affirmed Lowe’s death sentence, meaning he will remain on death row at Union Correctional Institution. He has been pursing post-conviction appeals, court records show.
William Reaves
Age: 75
Offense date: Sept. 23, 1986
Sentence date: March 6, 1992
Details of crime: Reaves killed Indian River County Deputy Richard Raczkoski outside a convenience store. Reaves was waiting for a cab when a gun fell from his shorts. A struggle with the deputy ensued and Reaves shot him four times in the back with the weapon.
The latest: The Florida Supreme Court in 2018 denied his post-conviction appeal seeking a new sentencing proceeding.
St. Lucie County
Eriese Tisdale
Age: 37
Offense date: Feb. 28, 2013
Sentence date: March 10, 2025
Details of crime: On Feb. 28, 2013, Tisdale, then 25, armed with a Glock handgun, fired seven times at St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Morales, 35, during a traffic stop in Fort Pierce, fatally striking the sergeant in the head, neck and arm.
The latest: Tisdale’s death sentence is automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.
Martin County
Matthew Marshall
Age: 60
Offense date: Nov. 1, 1988
Sentence date: Dec. 12, 1989
Details of crime: Marshall, then a Martin Correctional Institution inmate, beat inmate Jeffrey Henry to death. A fight broke out between the two men when Henry refused to pay Marshall winnings from a prison football game pool. Henry was found with his hands bound in his cell, killed by blows to the back of the head. Marshall claimed he acted in self-defense.
The latest: In May 2017, the Florida Supreme Court denied Marshall’s post-conviction appeal challenging the constitutionality of his death sentence.
Lenard J. Philmore
Age: 47
Offense date: Nov. 14, 1997
Sentence date: July 21, 2000
Co-defendant: Anthony Spann
Details of crime: Spann and Philmore kidnapped Kazue Perron, 44, outside her West Palm Beach home and drove away in her Lexus. They took Perron to an isolated area in Martin County, where Philmore shot her in the head and threw her body into a canal. The men then robbed a bank in Indiantown and were eventually captured in a Martin County orange grove.
The latest: The U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 denied a review of his post-conviction appeal challenging his death sentence.
Anthony Spann
Age: 50
Offense date: Nov. 14, 1997
Sentence date: June 23, 2000
Co-defendant: Lenard Philmore
Details of crime: Spann and Philmore kidnapped Kazue Perron, 44, outside her West Palm Beach home and drove away in her Lexus. They took Perron to an isolated area in Martin County, where Philmore shot her in the head and threw her body into a canal. The men then robbed a bank in Indiantown and were eventually captured in a Martin County orange grove.
The latest: A federal district judge in 2013 denied a post-conviction appeal.
Who from the Treasure Coast has been executed?
March 3, 2026
Billy Leon Kearse, 53, of Fort Pierce, spent 29 years on death row until his execution by lethal injection for the Jan. 18, 1991 murder of a Fort Pierce police officer. Kearse shot Fort Pierce police Sgt. Danny Parrish 13 times with the officer’s own gun after getting pulled over for driving the wrong way down a one-way street. He was convicted in October 1991 of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm. A jury voted unanimously in recommending the death penalty in March 1997. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant Jan. 29, 2026, ordering his execution.
April 12, 2012
David Alan Gore, 58, of Vero Beach, who admitted killing six women, spent 28 years on death row until his execution by lethal injection for the 1983 murder of Lynn Elliott, 17, of Vero Beach. She and a friend were hitchhiking when they were abducted by Gore and his cousin Fred Waterfield, who is serving life in prison. Dubbed the “killing cousins,” Gore and Waterfield targeted at least a dozen women for kidnap and rape beginning in 1976. Most of the victims were sexually assaulted, some were tortured and others were dismembered and buried in hidden graves in citrus groves west of Vero Beach.
Oct. 21, 1996
John Earl Bush, 38, of Fort Pierce, was executed by Florida’s electric chair after spending 14 years on death row for the 1982 first-degree murder of Frances Julia Slater, 18, of Stuart. He, along with Alphonso Cave, J.B. “Pig” Parker and Terry Wayne “Bo Gator” Johnson, abducted Slater while robbing a Stuart convenience store and drove her 13 miles to a rural area where she was stabbed, shot and left for dead.
Cave and Parker were also sentenced to death. After decades of appeals, Parker in 2023 was resentenced to life in prison. Cave, who spent 40 years on death row, was 64 when he died on Aug. 3, 2023. Johnson received a life term but he was released in 2008. Johnson, 67, in April was ordered back to prison for 38 months for a drug possession conviction related to a 2022 arrest, court records show.
May 10, 1984
James Adams, 47, of St. Lucie County, spent 10 years on death row until he was executed in Florida’s electric chair for the Nov. 12, 1973 murder of Edgar Brown, a millionaire Fort Pierce rancher and former St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Department chief deputy. Brown died after being bludgeoned with a fireplace poker during a robbery in his Indrio Road home.
Oct. 25, 1948
Lacy Stewart, 17, of White City was housed on death row for a year before he was executed by Florida’s electric chair for the Oct. 28, 1946 murder of Erich Emil Spiller, 65, a beer parlor operator from White City who Stewart confessed he fatally shot as the man counted receipts.
Stewart was one of at least eight executed inmates in Florida younger than 18.
May 12, 1939
Johnny Smith, 30, of Vero Beach was put to death by Florida’s electric chair after spending two years on death row for the 1936 murder of Sam Jones, according to a 1939 Press Journal newspaper article.
Then-Indian River County Sheriff William Frick pulled the switch that electrocuted Smith; until 1941, the job of pulling the switch fell to the sheriff in the county where the crime had been committed.
Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of “Uncertain Terms,” a true-crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Six inmates on Florida’s death row have connections to the Treasure Coast
Reporting by Melissa E. Holsman, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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