A 77-year-old killer who bludgeoned a Florida grandmother to death with a hammer is set to die Tuesday evening in the state's lethal injection chamber, kicking off a historic week of dual executions across the country.
Curtis Wilkie Beasley is slated to receive a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke, becoming the state’s seventh prisoner over age 70 executed this year. His death sentence comes despite last-ditch legal appeals arguing that executing a geriatric inmate suffering from severe cognitive decline violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. The Florida Supreme Court rejected that claim last week, leaving a final petition pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Beasley was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, and grand theft auto for the gruesome August 1995 attack on 62-year-old Carolyn Monfort.
Court records show Beasley was staying at Monfort’s home in Dundee, south of Orlando, while working as a painter for her son-in-law. When Monfort stopped answering phone calls, her daughter went to check on her and discovered her body in a blood-splattered laundry room.
Monfort died from multiple blunt-force injuries to the head, and detectives recovered a bloody hammer head wrapped in a towel nearby. Beasley vanished after the murder, fleeing in Monfort’s car to Miami before hiding out in Alabama. Investigators caught up with him after discovering he was working for an electrical contractor under a fake identity. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998.
Beasley's execution marks the 29th nationwide this year—with Florida accounting for more than half of that total.
Under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has dramatically accelerated its execution pace, nearing last year's record-setting 19 executions. In July, Florida became the first state in nearly a decade to put two condemned killers to death on the same day.
Two additional executions are scheduled in the Sunshine State next month, though DeSantis temporarily halted one set for Oct. 13. Inmate William Lee Thompson, 74, will undergo a psychiatric evaluation Thursday after a doctor raised concerns about dementia. William Reaves, 77, remains scheduled to die Oct. 20 for the 1986 murder of a police officer.
Beasley’s execution is part of an unusual double execution week in the U.S. On Wednesday, Tennessee plans to put to death 50-year-old Christa Pike—marking the state's first execution of a female inmate in more than 200 years. Pike was convicted of torturing and murdering a classmate in a jealous rage when she was 18
