Florida Executes Man Convicted of Murdering College Student, Raping Sister in National Forest
STARKE, Fla. — A man from Florida was put to death on Thursday for killing a college student and raping the victim’s older sister while the three of them were camping in a national forest 30 years ago.
Loran Cole, 57, was charged with killing an 18-year-old student in 1994. He was given a lethal injection and was declared dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison. Cole was also in prison for two life terms for rape.
Cole didn’t have anything else to say. When asked if he had any last words, he replied, “No, sir.”
When the process started around 6 p.m. Cole looked up at a witness in the front row for a short time. His cheeks puffed out as he took big breaths after three minutes. He felt his whole body shake for a short time. The guard shook him and called his name five minutes into the process. Cole then looked like he stopped breathing, and he was pronounced dead.
Court papers showed that Cole and a friend, William Paul, became friends with the two college students in the Ocala National Forest. The guys offered to take the siblings to see a pond after they had talked around a fire. Records show that Cole and Paul jumped the victims and stole from them while they were away from the campsite.
The brother, who was 18 years old and went to Florida State University, was beaten, had his throat cut, and then left in the woods. The record says that Cole tied up and raped his sister, who was a student at Eckerd College at the time and 21 years old. She was taken back to the campsite.
The woman was raped again the next day after being tied to a tree all night. To get away, she finally did and called for help from a driver. Court papers show that police found her brother’s body on the ground with his face down.
Cole and Paul were both found guilty of first-degree murder. Paul got a life sentence in jail.
Even though the parents of the victims were not at the execution, they had a statement read to them by corrections officers later. Their writing showed how the killing of their son and the attack on their daughter had broken their lives. But they said their daughter was now married, teaching, and a professor.
“Our daughter has scars on the inside that will never go away, but no one else can see them.” The statement said, “She fought years of fear, pain, and sorrow.” “She is our hero.”
“We don’t care about or feel sorry for Mr. Cole.” “He put himself in this situation,” it said. “Please don’t be kind to him.”
The Associated Press usually doesn’t name people who have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward in public.
Cole was given the death sentence by Gov. Ron DeSantis last month.
Michael Zack was put to death in October for killing Ravonne Smith in 1996. This was the first execution in Florida since then.
Officials from the Department of Corrections said Cole was “compliant” in the hours before he was put to death and said he had two visitors, one of whom was his son.
Cole’s last challenge was turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier Thursday.
Cole’s lawyers got a stay of execution because of several things, one of which was the fact that he and other boys were beaten and raped at a state-run reform school. Since then, the state has apologized for the abuse and this year passed a law that lets prisoners at the now-closed rehab school get money to make up for it. Cole’s lawyers also said he shouldn’t be put to death because he was mentally ill and had Parkinson’s disease and brain damage.