Death row killer claims murder was 'an accident' in final words before execution
A Florida man convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and severely wounding his mother-in-law was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday evening (August 18).
William Frances Silvia, 61, was pronounced dead at 6:11pm at Florida State Prison, near Starke. The execution marks the 13th carried out in the state this year, continuing Florida's accelerated pace of capital punishment.
Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an intravenous line in his arm when the curtain separating the execution chamber from the witness viewing area opened at 6:00pm.
A priest sat at his feet in prayer while Silvia remained largely motionless with his eyes and mouth open as the three-drug cocktail was administered.
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When asked by officials if he wished to make a final statement from the gurney, Silvia offered a brief apology: "I'm sorry all this happened. It was an accident. I never meant to hurt her."
Several minutes after the lethal drugs began flowing, a warden stepped forward, shook Silvia, and shouted his name to check for consciousness.
Receiving no response, medical personnel examined him and formally declared him dead shortly after.
The 2006 crime and legal battles
Silvia was sentenced to death following his conviction for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in connection with the deadly 2006 ambush of his estranged wife, Patricia Silvia, and her mother, Betty Woodard.
Court records show that Silvia purchased a shotgun in 2006 and traveled to Woodard’s Orlando-area residence, where Patricia had been staying following their separation two months prior.
The family was in the middle of an outdoor cookout when Silvia arrived. Following an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile, authorities said Silvia walked back to his truck, retrieved the firearm, and shot both women.
Silvia was originally sentenced to death in 2008. While that initial sentence was later vacated following legal appeals concerning state sentencing procedures, he was resentenced to death during a new penalty phase in 2018.
In recent appeals, attorneys argued that state public defenders could not adequately represent him due to concurrent casework with another death row inmate, though the Florida Supreme Court rejected the petition.
Just hours before his execution on Tuesday, a final last ditch appeal for a stay of execution was rejected by both the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court.
Victim's family break silence
Pamela Wyatt, Patricia Silvia’s sister, spoke out on Tuesday and said William Frances Silvia’s actions not only took her sister’s life but changed the lives of everyone who loved her.
“Nothing that happens today can give us those stolen years. No execution can return Patricia to her children and give her the grandchildren she dreamed of knowing,” Wyatt said after the execution.
“But today can be an opportunity to remember that Patricia’s life was bigger than the terrible act that ended it.”
Florida's execution pace
Silvia’s execution continues a sharp rise in capital punishment across Florida.
Out of 47 executions carried out across the United States in 2025, Florida accounted for 19 - the highest annual total in the state since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.
So far in 2026, Florida has conducted 13 of the nation's 23 executions.
Two further executions are currently scheduled in the state for September.
Last words of famous death row inmates
Ted Bundy
Bundy was sentenced to death for assaulting and murdering dozens of young women and girls across several states during the 1970s.
After maintaining his innocence for more than a decade, Bundy officially confessed to 30 murders shortly before his execution, seemingly in a last-minute bid to buy more time.
On 25 January, 1989, the 42-year-old was executed by the electric chair at Florida State Prison.
Addressing his lawyer Jim Coleman and Methodist minister Fred Lawrence, who had spent Bundy’s final night with him praying, the serial killer said: “Jim and Fred, I’d like you to give my love to my family and friends.”
Aileen Wuornos
Wuornos was a sex worker who shot and killed seven men along Florida highways between 1989 and 1990.
Following a highly publicised trial, she was convicted of first-degree murder for six of the killings and executed at Florida State Prison on 9 October, 2002.
Before her death, Wuornos said: “I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back like Independence Day, with Jesus June 6. Like the movie, big mother ship and all, I'll be back.”
John Spenkelink
Spenkelink was convicted of first-degree murder after killing his travelling companion, Joseph Szymankiewicz, in a Florida motel room on February 4, 1973.
Despite extensive failed appeals, he was executed via the electric chair at Florida State Prison on May 25, 1979.
At the age of 30, Spenkelink’s reported last words were: “Capital punishment - them without the capital get the punishment.”
William Bonin
Known as the ‘Freeway Killer’, Bonin raped, tortured, and murdered at least 21 boys and young men between 1979 and 1980, dumping their bodies alongside various highways in Southern California.
He was convicted of 14 murders and was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison on 23 February, 1996.
When asked for his last words, Bonin, 49, told the warden: “That I feel the death penalty is not an answer to the problems at hand. That I feel it sends the wrong message to the youth of the country.
“Young people act as they see other people acting instead of as people tell them to act. And I would suggest that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, that they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously.”
Clarence Ray Allen
Allen was handed capital punishment in 1982 after ordering a triple murder while serving a life sentence for arranging the 1974 murder of Mary Sue Kitts, a potential witness against him in a burglary case.
At 76 years old, Allen was put to death via lethal injection at California’s San Quentin State Prison on 17 January, 2006.
“My last words will be, Hoka Hey, it's a good day to die. Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye,” his final statement read. It was the state’s last execution.
Phoebe Tonks