Posted on 04/10/2013 11:16:31 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
STARKE — Larry Eugene Mann, who crushed a little girl's skull 32 years ago, died Wednesday night as chemicals coursed through his veins.
Mann was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison for the murder of 10-year-old Elisa Vera Nelson, whom he abducted one morning in 1980 as she rode her bicycle to school in Palm Harbor.
He was pronounced dead at 7:19 p.m. He was 59.
Afterward, Jeff Nelson, Elisa's brother, stood in the light of a setting sun outside the prison, joining a crowd of about 50 people who turned out to offer support. Nelson, who was 12 when his sister was killed, thanked authorities for the capture and prosecution of Mann. He also thanked Gov. Rick Scott, who signed Mann's death warrant.
For three decades, he said, lawyers have talked about how Mann has changed in prison, how he studied the Bible and prayed and expressed remorse.
But no one ever talked about Elisa, he said.
She had a cheeky grin and bested a little league team full of boys. She was a cheerleader and dancer who loved to play teacher and tutored neighborhood kids.
She was a fun-loving fifth-grader with big blue eyes and shades of gold running through long, blond hair. She loved reading and learning and meeting new people. She tumbled through gymnastic lessons. At home, she hung posters of John Travolta on her bedroom wall. She had a cat named Smokey and a dog named Stupid.
Her parents, David and Wendy Nelson, moved to Florida from Michigan in the early 1970s and started a successful construction business.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
Hey Texas like you, if you kill someone we Kill you Back in Florida also. Took to long though should have happened a week after the killing.
Isn't that special.
32 years is too long. Should be about 32 hours.
Thirty years is a travesty. He should have been dead at least 25 years by now.
Better late than never; good riddance and rot in hell.
That took more than 30 years longer than it should, but I’m glad to hear the good news.
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