Florida executes man convicted of killing college student, raping victim’s sister in national forest

Starke, Florida (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing a college freshman and raping the murder victim’s older sister while the siblings camped in a national forest 30 years ago was executed Thursday.

Loran Cole, 57, received a lethal injection and was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison for the 1994 killing of the 18-year-old student. Cole also was serving two life sentences for rape.

Cole did not have a last statement. “No sir,” he said when asked if he had some final words.

After the procedure began about 6 p.m. Cole briefly looked up at a witness in the front row. After three minutes, he began taking deep breaths, his cheeks puffing out. For a brief moment, his entire body trembled. Five minutes into the procedure, the warden shook him and shouted his name. Cole then appeared to stop breathing and then was declared dead.

Cole and a friend, William Paul, befriended the two college students in the Ocala National Forest, court records showed. After talking around a fire, the men offered to take the siblings to see a pond. While away from the campsite, Cole and Paul jumped the victims and robbed them, according to the records.

The brother, 18, who was a student at Florida State University, was beaten and had his throat slit and left in the forest. His sister, then a 21-year-old senior at Eckerd College, was taken back to the campsite, where Cole raped her and tied her up, according to the record.

The woman was left tied to a tree overnight. She eventually managed to free herself and flagged down a driver for help. Police found her brother’s body lying face down on the ground, according to court records.

Paul and Cole were both convicted of first-degree murder. Paul was sentenced to life in prison.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant for Cole last month.

The execution was the first in Florida since Michael Zack was put to death last October for the 1996 killing of Ravonne Smith.

Department of Corrections officials described Cole as “compliant” in the hours before his execution and said he had two visitors, including his son.

The US Supreme Court denied Cole’s final appeal earlier Thursday.

His lawyers had raised several points in seeking a stay of execution, including the fact that Cole was an inmate at a state-run reform school where he and other boys were beaten and raped. The state has since apologized for the abuse and this year passed a law authorizing reparations for inmates at the now-shuttered reform school. The lawyers also argued Cole shouldn’t be executed because he was mentally ill and had brain damage and Parkinson’s disease.