STARK, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of murdering a couple during a 1990 robbery in South Florida, died Tuesday in the state’s record 13th execution.
Victor Tony Jones, 64, was declared dead at 6:13pm after a fatal injection at the Florida State Jail near Stark. Jones’ death extended the Florida record for a year, and the state planned to carry out two more executions next month.
Curtains to the viewing room were opened at the start of the scheduled 6pm procedure. When asked if he had a final statement, Joan said, “No, sir.” Then the medicine started to flow. His breasts began to swell for a few minutes, then slowed down and stopped completely.
The guard shook Jones and shouted his name a few minutes after the procedure, but there was no response. Jones’ face remains motionless and loose in its loose colour, and Medic eventually enters the room of death, declaring him dead a few minutes later. Authorities said there were no complications in the execution.
“I wish my parents had the opportunity to die so gracefully and close their eyes after seeing what they saw tonight,” said the victim’s daughter, Eileen Fisher. “They were killed violently. My father fought for 20 minutes with a stab wound to the heart, and my mother died instantly in the cold floor toilet.”
Jones is a new employee of the Miami business owned by Matilda and Jacob Nestle in December 1990, stabbing a woman in the neck and her husband in the chest, court records show. Investigators determined that despite his wounds, Jacob Nestle managed to retreat to the office, removing the .22 caliber pistol five times and hitting Jones once on his forehead.
Police say Jones found Nestle’s money and personal property in his pocket and injured him at the scene. Jones was hospitalized and later sentenced to death in 1993, being convicted of two counts of second-degree murder. The ju judge also discovered that he had committed the crime of armed robbery.
Fisher attended the execution of his parents’ murderers along with two adult daughters and three other families. She said she had mixed feelings because she had never seen anyone die before. But she is pleased that it has finally ended and that justice has been served.
Nestls owned a medical supplies store in Miami’s Wynwood area several years before becoming an internationally known arts and entertainment district. The building where the business was located is now a community center.
“My parents would have loved it because they were always helping people in the community,” Fisher said.
Since the US Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, Florida’s highest annual total of execution was eight in 2014. Florida executed more people this year than any other state, followed by Texas with five.
Jones filed an appeal with the Florida Supreme Court earlier this month. He is allegedly intellectually disabled and abuse he suffered as a teenager at the closed national reform school. The court ruled that the issue of disability had already been litigated and that no claims of abuse were presented at trial, denying the claim.
Hours before enforcement, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to make a final appeal without comment.
Tuesday’s execution has resulted in a total of 34 men in the United States so far being executed this year, with at least eight others expected to die for the remainder of 2025.
Aside from legal tributes, two more executions are looming in Florida next month, a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Samuel Lee Smithers, 72, is scheduled to be executed on October 14th. He was convicted in 1996 for killing two women whose bodies were found in a country pond.
Norman Mearle Grim Jr., 65, is scheduled to die on October 28th. He was convicted in 1998 of rape and murder of a neighbor discovered by a fisherman near the Pensacola Bay Bridge.
The Florida execution will be carried out with a third drug that will sedate, paralytic and stop the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
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Follow David Fischer on the social platform Bluesky: @dwfischer.bsky.social
