TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A man known as the “ninja killer” was executed Wednesday for the 1989 slayings of a couple in Flagler County.
The governor’s office said Louis Bernard Gaskin, 56, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection for the deaths of Robert Sturmfels, 56, and Georgette Sturmfels, 55, who were visiting their winter home from New Jersey on Dec. 20, 1989, when Gaskin murdered them.
Gaskin, who was dubbed the “ninja killer” because he wore all-black ninja clothing during the crimes, shot his victims with a .22-caliber rifle, investigators said. He was convicted of first-degree murder.
Freelance broadcast journalist John Koch has been witnessing state executions since the last 1980s. He witnessed Gaskin take his last breath.
“This one played out pretty well,” Koch said. “He quietly went to sleep and he died.
Koch also heard Gaskin’s last words.
“He referred to his case that didn’t go wrong,” Koch said. “He said, ‘It’s not about the crime or the criminal. It’s about the law. The last four words of his life were, ‘Look at my case.’”
A summary of the case included in the Florida Supreme Court opinion said Gaskin parked his car in a wooded area and shot Robert Sturmfels twice through a window of the home. He shot Georgette Sturmfels, who was trying to leave the room, and then shot Robert Sturmfels again, according to the summary. He shot Georgette Sturmfels again after seeing her through a door and then entered the home and shot both of them in the head, the filing said.
Property that he stole from the Sturmfels’ home — a clock, two lamps and a videocassette recorder — was found at his residence and were intended to be Christmas gifts for his girlfriend, according to investigators.
He then went to the home of Joseph and Mary Rector, according to the summary. After Joseph Rector got out of bed to investigate a noise, he was shot, but the Rectors were able to get to a car and drive to a hospital.
He was also convicted of armed robbery, burglary and the attempted murder of the Rectors.
Local media reported at the time that Gaskin quickly confessed to the crimes and told a psychologist before his trial that he knew what he was doing.
“The guilt was always there,” Gaskin said. “The devil had more of a hold than God did. I knew that I was wrong. I wasn’t insane.”
Jurors voted 8-4 in 1990 to recommend the death sentence, which the judge accepted. Florida law now requires a unanimous jury vote for capital punishment, although the Legislature could send Gov. Ron DeSantis a bill this week that would allow 8-4 jury recommendations for capital punishment.
Gaskin has filed numerous appeals over the years but by 2020 both the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for his death warrant to be signed, Attorney General Ashley Moody said in court documents.
The state and U.S. supreme courts have rejected appeals Gaskin filed since his death warrant was signed, with the latest denial coming Tuesday.
Prison officials say Gaskin woke up just before 5 am. He had his last meal three hours later. Officials said Wednesday Gaskin’s last meal was BBQ pork ribs, turkey and pork necks, shrimp-fried rice, french fries and water. His last visitor was his sister.
It was the state’s 100th execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. There are another 297 people on Florida’s death row.
This execution comes six weeks after Donald Dillbeck, 59, was put to death for the 1990 murder of Faye Vann, 44, in Tallahassee, and three weeks before the scheduled execution of Darryl B. Barwick for slaying Rebecca Wendt, 24, in 1986 in Panama City.
It was the shortest period three executions have been carried out in Florida since three condemned prisoners were put to death within 36 days in 2014 under then-Gov. Rick Scott.
An anti-death penalty group called Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty protested his execution outside the prison.
“We’re not killing the same person this was 30 years ago. We’re also killing the whole Louis Gaskin who was mentally ill. He had a deprived and traumatic childhood. Horrific childhood you would not wish upon your worst enemy. Sentenced to death by an all-white jury. His execution highlights so many of the problems with Florida’s death penalty,” Maria Deliberato said. “It really is a matter of, do we the people of the state of Florida deserve to kill. And does killing people bring back the people they killed? There’s no doubt about his guilt unlike some of the other cases in Florida. But killing Mr. Gaskin will not bring back the people he killed.”
