LAKE COUNTY, FL - A Florida death row inmate convicted of raping and killing a woman back in 1994 was executed on Tuesday, June 10th at 6:00 p.m. Anthony Wainwright was declared dead at 6:22 p.m. He declined a final meal and had only two visitors at the time of his execution: his fianceé and a spiritual advisor.
Wainwright opted to let his spiritual advisor release a statement on his behalf, WCJB reported. "I wanted to thank everyone who has supported my wife Samantha and I. It has truly been overwhelming. It has meant so much to us both. The court system is broken. Especially in Florida. Please continue the fight because I can promise you they are not going to let up. They will continue to murder if we continue to let it happen," Wainwright wrote.
"I hope that nobody forgets how terrible of an attorney Baya Harrison has been to all of us guys on the row and how terrible he represented me for so many years. He might be Florida's worst attorney," he added. "To the family of Carmen Gayheart, I hope my death brings you peace and healing. To my friends and family — forgive everything that has happened to me."
His spiritual advisor, Reverend Jeff Hood released his own statement. "Anthony Wainwright grew so much in the many years of ministry I spent with him. Now, he's in heaven and we're still stuck in this vengeful hell we've created down here," Hood said.
At 23, Carmen Gayheart was attending nursing school and had two small children. Her kids were expecting to be picked up from daycare on April 27, 1994, but she never made it. "They were left at the daycare. She would never leave her children anywhere. Not even in the yard by themselves," Gayheart's sister, Maria David said.
She recalled the day she got the phone call from a relative telling her Carmen was missing. Her last known location was a Lake City Winn-Dixie. "From there, everything just spiraled," David said. At the time, Carmen's family didn't know she was taken from the parking lot at gunpoint by Richard Hamilton and Wainwright, who two days prior, escaped from a North Carolina prison.
After kidnapping Carmen, they drove north on I-75 into Hamilton County, where she was sexually assaulted and shot. Both Hamilton and Wainwright were convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, and sexual battery. Each was given the death penalty with Hamilton dying in prison in 2023.
David wrote letters, sent emails, protested, and petitioned every Florida governor since Wainwright and Hamilton were sentenced to death, WPBF reported. She said both men taunted her family in court during the trial, and she believes justice was served when both were sentenced to death. After decades of waiting, David said she would be in the execution chamber, watching. "No. What he did to my sister," David said. "I have no problems watching him take his last breath."
Wainwright opted to let his spiritual advisor release a statement on his behalf, WCJB reported. "I wanted to thank everyone who has supported my wife Samantha and I. It has truly been overwhelming. It has meant so much to us both. The court system is broken. Especially in Florida. Please continue the fight because I can promise you they are not going to let up. They will continue to murder if we continue to let it happen," Wainwright wrote.
"I hope that nobody forgets how terrible of an attorney Baya Harrison has been to all of us guys on the row and how terrible he represented me for so many years. He might be Florida's worst attorney," he added. "To the family of Carmen Gayheart, I hope my death brings you peace and healing. To my friends and family — forgive everything that has happened to me."
His spiritual advisor, Reverend Jeff Hood released his own statement. "Anthony Wainwright grew so much in the many years of ministry I spent with him. Now, he's in heaven and we're still stuck in this vengeful hell we've created down here," Hood said.
At 23, Carmen Gayheart was attending nursing school and had two small children. Her kids were expecting to be picked up from daycare on April 27, 1994, but she never made it. "They were left at the daycare. She would never leave her children anywhere. Not even in the yard by themselves," Gayheart's sister, Maria David said.
She recalled the day she got the phone call from a relative telling her Carmen was missing. Her last known location was a Lake City Winn-Dixie. "From there, everything just spiraled," David said. At the time, Carmen's family didn't know she was taken from the parking lot at gunpoint by Richard Hamilton and Wainwright, who two days prior, escaped from a North Carolina prison.
After kidnapping Carmen, they drove north on I-75 into Hamilton County, where she was sexually assaulted and shot. Both Hamilton and Wainwright were convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping, and sexual battery. Each was given the death penalty with Hamilton dying in prison in 2023.
David wrote letters, sent emails, protested, and petitioned every Florida governor since Wainwright and Hamilton were sentenced to death, WPBF reported. She said both men taunted her family in court during the trial, and she believes justice was served when both were sentenced to death. After decades of waiting, David said she would be in the execution chamber, watching. "No. What he did to my sister," David said. "I have no problems watching him take his last breath."
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