'Deacon of Death' set to be executed in killings of two Hillsborough County women
'Deacon of Death' killer set to be executed in October
Hillsborough County killer Samuel Smithers is about to face the final punishment. The so-called "Deacon of Death" is slated to be executed on October 14.?Evan Axelbank reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - Hillsborough County killer Samuel Smithers is about to face the final punishment. The so-called "Deacon of Death" is slated to be executed on October 14.
A jury unanimously sentenced him to death for killing two women he had picked up in Tampa.
The backstory:
The investigation kicked off on May 28, 1996, when a friend found Smithers cleaning an axe near a pool of blood in a home owned by the friend.
Pictured: Christy Cowan (left) and Denise Roach (right).
Although he said it was blood from a small animal, police would determine that – over the course of sixteen days – Smithers had dragged two women into a pond.
"The investigation was incredibly thorough," said current Hillsborough County State Attorney Susie Lopez, who was not involved in the original prosecution of the case. "There are hundreds and hundreds of photographs that were taken at the scene, because when these two women were found, nobody really knew what happened."
The victims, Christy Cowan and Denise Roach, were prostitutes he met on Nebraska Avenue in Tampa.
"It's the end of a chapter," said Lopez. "And, we hope that we can close this chapter for these two families of these young women who were taken away during the prime of their lives."
Dig deeper:
In signing the death warrant, Governor Ron DeSantis noted that Smithers' convictions and sentencing have been challenged at least four times.
"We want to make sure, as citizens and as prosecutors, that he has been given every relief to which he is entitled," said Lopez, "because a jury unanimously decided that death was the appropriate sentence."
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Pictured: Samuel Smithers. Courtesy: Florida Department of Corrections.
Those familiar with the case said the man who became known as the "Deacon of Death," because of his involvement in church, was two-faced.
He was active in his son's life and was a polite do-gooder who often helped others. The dark side, though, was apparently his trips to Tampa's Nebraska Avenue, a well-known corridor of prostitution.
"It took a very thorough investigation and just good old detective work," said Lopez, "boots on the ground detective work to get this ‘Deacon of Death,’ as he's been called, brought into justice."
What's next:
The death warrant is scheduled to be carried out October 14.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Evan Axelbank.