Florida to execute 77-year-old man convicted of 1995 Polk County hammer attack murder
Courtesy: Florida Department of Corrections.
STARKE, Fla. - A 77-year-old man convicted of beating a woman to death with a hammer in 1995 is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening at the Florida State Prison.
Florida death penalty record
What we know:
Curtis Wilkie Beasley was sentenced to death for first-degree murder, robbery and grand theft auto following the 1995 killing of Carolyn Monfort. The Florida Supreme Court recently turned down appeals arguing that executing a man of his age with cognitive decline constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Beasley is set to receive a three-drug lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. He would become the 16th person executed in Florida this year and the state's seventh prisoner over age 70 executed in 2026.
Unanswered legal appeals
What we don't know:
It remains unclear whether the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene, as a final appeal on Beasley's behalf is still pending before the high court.
The 1995 Dundee attack
Timeline:
In August 1995, Beasley stayed at Monfort’s home in Dundee, south of Orlando, while pressure washing and painting nearby apartments owned by her son-in-law. After Monfort could not be reached for two days, her daughter went to the home and discovered her body in a blood-spattered laundry room.
Investigators found a bloody hammer head wrapped in a towel near Monfort, who died from multiple blunt-force injuries to the head. Authorities tracked Beasley after a witness spotted him driving Monfort's vehicle. He fled to Miami and then Alabama, where he was arrested while working under a fake name. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1998.
Executions across the country
Big picture view:
Beasley's execution would mark the 29th execution in the nation this year, with Florida accounting for most of them. The state is approaching its record of 19 executions set last year, which was the highest since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. In July, Florida became the first state in nearly ten years to execute two inmates in a single day.
Outside Florida, Tennessee plans to execute 50-year-old Christa Pike on Wednesday. Pike, convicted of killing a classmate in a jealous rage as a teenager, would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years.
Upcoming Florida death warrants
What's next:
Two additional executions are scheduled in Florida this year, though Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis temporarily paused the next one. William Lee Thompson, 74, was set for execution Oct. 13 for a 1976 murder. After a doctor indicated Thompson might have dementia, DeSantis ordered a panel of three psychiatrists to evaluate his competency.
DeSantis, who leaves office in January, previously issued similar stays in 2023 and 2025, with both executions eventually moving forward after evaluations. Another inmate, William Reaves, 77, faces an Oct. 20 execution date for the 1986 fatal shooting of a deputy. All Florida executions are carried out using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from court records and official statements from the Florida Department of Corrections and the Florida Supreme Court.