Death row killer executed by lethal injection after bizarre last meal request

An American Baptist deacon who murdered two women and dumped their bodies in a pond has been executed by lethal injection after asking for a bizarre final meal. Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, was put to death at Florida State Prison in Bradford County on Tuesday evening, October 14, 29 years after the killings that shocked the state.

US media dubbed him the "Deacon of Death", owing to his church role and the brutality of his crimes. Smithers was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for killing Christy Cowan, 24, and Denise Roach, 31, in May 1996. A married church deacon and part-time landscaper from Plant City, near Tampa, he met the women, who were both sex workers, separately at a local motel before luring them to a 27-acre property where he worked.

Smithers had sex with both women and then murdered them using a garden hoe and an axe, before dumping their bodies in a nearby pond.

His crimes came to light after the owner of the property noticed a pool of blood in the carport, and reported it to a sheriff's deputy.

Smithers was sentenced to death in 1999 and had spent more than two decades on death row at Florida State Prison.

When asked for a final statement before the execution, he reportedly replied simply: "No, sir."

But just before his execution, he reportedly asked for a bizarre last meal.

Smithers demanded two sports drinks, water, peanut butter, and three packs of oatmeal.

Prisoners facing the death penalty are entitled to a last meal across US prisons.

His execution is the 14th one this year, a record in the state.