Florida death row inmate dies, convicted of infamous 1995 Cracker Barrel murders in Naples

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Florida death row inmate dies, convicted of infamous 1995 Cracker Barrel murders in Naples

A Florida man, on death row for the

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that sent shockwaves through the Naples community, has died.

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 55, died of ******* on May 18, after 29 years on death row, the Florida Department of Corrections confirmed.

On Nov. 15, 1995, Jennings, along with co-defendant Charles Graves, killed three Cracker Barrel employees during a robbery of the restaurant off Collier Boulevard in Naples.

According to previous Naples Daily News reports, Jason Wiggins, 18, had stayed overnight to clean up. Manager Dorothy Siddle, 38, arrived around 4:30 a.m., and 27-year-old cook Vicki Smith showed up about 10 minutes later. But before the restaurant could open that morning, all three were dead.

The victims were found in a restaurant freezer with their hands bound and throats slit.

Jennings and Graves, both former employees at the restaurant, got away with $6,000. They fled to Las Vegas, where they were later arrested.

Both were convicted the following year.

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; Graves was sentenced to life in prison.

Death sentence:

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Here’s what to know about Jennings and the Cracker Barrel murders:

Cracker Barrel Naples, Florida murders

On the morning of Nov. 15, 1995, Jennings and Graves entered the Cracker Barrel at 3845 Tollgate Blvd in Naples.

After two previous failed attempts to rob the restaurant, this time the pair stole $6,000 and killed three employees.

The victims were found in a freezer with their hands bound and throats slit.

Jennings and Graves fled but were captured in Las Vegas.

According to previous reports, Detectives Andy Rose and Jay Crenshaw flew to Las Vegas. At first, Jennings didn’t want to talk to the detectives, but the next morning, he changed his mind, giving a four-hour interview where he admitted to robbing the restaurant but blamed Graves for the killings.

Graves and Jennings were convicted in separate trials in Pinellas County in the fall of 1996. Graves was sentenced to life in prison, while Jennings received the death penalty.

‘The evilest thing’:

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8 from Collier, Lee County on Florida death row

Currently, 271 inmates sit on Florida’s death row.

Collier County death row inmatesMesac Damas

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 is 

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 for the murders of his wife and five children.

Damas killed Guerline Dieu Damas, and their five children – Michzach, 9; Marven, 6; Maven, 5; Megan, 3; and Morgan, 1 – by slicing their throats with a filet knife in their North Naples townhouse between Sept. 17 and 18, 2009.

Damas fled to Haiti, where he was born and raised, but was soon located and returned to Florida.

Lee County death row inmatesHarold Lucas

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 has been on death row since 1977. He was convicted in the 1976 ******* of 16-year-old Anthia Jill Piper in her Bonita Springs home. Piper was shot seven times.

Anton Krawczuk

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 was sentenced to death in the 1990 ******* of David Staker in his North Fort Myers home.

Krawczuk choked Staker for about 10 minutes and then poured drain cleaner and water down his throat. Krawczuk’s co-defendant, William Poirier, then put a washcloth in Staker’s mouth and taped it in.

The pair dumped the body in Charlotte County.

Joshua Nelson

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 was convicted of killing Cape Coral teen Tommy Owens in 1996.

According to reports, Nelson and his co-defendant Keith Brennan planned to kill the 18-year-old and steal his car. They lured Owens to a remote street in Cape Coral and hit him multiple times with a baseball bat before using a box cutter to slit his throat.

Owens was still conscious and begged to be knocked out. Nelson hit him again and the pair dragged his body to nearby bushes where Owens later died.

Kevin Foster

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, the ringleader of the “Lords of Chaos,” a self-proclaimed militia group that terrorized Lee County in the 1990s, was convicted in 1998 of killing Mark Schwebes, a Riverdale High School music teacher in April of 1996.

Schwebes reportedly caught Foster and his group vandalizing the east Fort Myers high school’s auditorium and said he would turn them in the next day. Foster and three other teens went to Schwebes’ Pine Manor home where Foster fatally shot him.

Mark Sievers

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 is on death row for the *******-for-hire death of his wife Teresa Sievers, a 46-year-old Southwest Florida doctor.

Teresa Sievers left a family vacation and returned alone to her Bonita Springs home on June 28, 2015.

After she walked into the house, Curtis Wayne Wright and Jimmy Ray Rodgers used hammers to bludgeon her to death.

Wade Wilson

On the morning of Oct. 7, 2019, two Cape Coral, Florida women were brutally murdered. 

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, 35, was strangled to death as she slept in her bed. Hours later, 

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, 43, was strangled, beaten, pushed out of a car and run over repeatedly.

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, then 25, was 

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 and charged with killing both women.

Five years later, 

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 went on trial for the murders. 

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 on Jun 12, 2024, and 

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 for each of the murders. Trial judge Nicholas Thompson imposed the 

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 on Aug. 27, 2024.

“The evidence showed both murders were heinous, atrocious and cruel, and that the second ******* was cold, calculated and premeditated,” Thompson said during 

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.

Joseph Zieler

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, of North Fort Myers, was sentenced to death in the brutal 1990 ***** and ******* of 11-year-old Robin Cornell and her babysitter, Lisa Story, 32, in Cape Coral.

Where is Florida death row?

Florida’s death row is inside 

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 in Raiford, about 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville.

What is Florida’s death row like?

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, death row inmates are housed in cells measuring 6 x 9 x 9.5 feet. Death Watch cells, where inmates are moved once the governor signs their death warrant, measure 12 x 7 x 8.5 feet, according to the 

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.

Inmates on death row are allowed snacks, radios and 13” TVs, but do not have cable or air-conditioning.  They wear orange t-shirts to set them apart from other inmates and the same blue pants worn by regular prisoners.

Death row inmates are served three meals a day –  at 5:00 am, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.. Food is prepared by prison staff and transported in insulated carts to the cells, where inmates are given sporks to eat from the provided trays.

They’re allowed showers every other day and any visitors must be preapproved. Inmates can receive mail, except on holidays and weekends.

Death Row inmates are counted at least hourly. They wear handcuffs everywhere except in their cells, the exercise yard and shower. They are in their cells except for medical reasons, exercise, social or legal visits or media interviews.

When a death warrant is signed, the inmate is put on Death Watch status and allowed a legal and social phone call.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News:

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#Florida #death #row #inmate #dies #convicted #infamous #Cracker #Barrel #murders #Naples

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