Florida man executed after killing two women he met in bars a day apart

WARNING - This article contains distressing content

A Florida has been executed for the murder of a woman during a nine-day crime spree.

Michael Zack III was executed for the murder of Ravonne Smith, receiving a separate life sentence for the murder of Laura Rosillo.

Zack's execution began at 6pm on 3 October at the Florida State Prison in Starke.

Asked if he had any last words, he said: "Yes sir."

Florida Department of Correction

He then lifted his head and looked at the witnesses, and said: "I love you all."

Zack was executed by lethal injection, and pronounced dead just after 6.14pm.

The 54-year-old had a long wait to his eventual execution, having committed the offences in 1996, some 27 years before he himself was eventually killed.

He met with his wife and spiritual adviser earlier in the day, and declined a last meal.

Zack's nine-day-long crime spree started in Florida state capital Tallahassee.

He had been at a bar where he was a regular when his girlfriend called and said he was being evicted.

The bartender offered to lend him her pickup truck, but according to court records Zack left with it and never came back.

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Instead, he drove to a bar in Niceville in the Florida panhandle, in the north-west of the state. There, he became acquainted with a construction company owner.

The man discovered he was living in the pickup truck, and offered to let him stay at his home. Zack went on to steal two guns and $42, later pawning the guns.

It was at another bar that Zack met Rosillo and invited her to the beach to take drugs together.

According to court records, at the beach, he beat her and dragged her into the dunes where he strangled her to death and kicked sand over her face.

The following day Zack went to a bar in Pensacola, which is where he met Smith.

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The pair went to the beach to smoke marijuana, and she then took him back to her and her boyfriend's home.

At the home, Zack hit Smith over the head with a bottle before he raped her and stabbed her in the chest with an oyster knife four times, according to court records.

After killing Smith, Zack stole her television, VCR, and purse, which he attempted to pawn unsuccessfully when the pawnbroker suspected they were stolen.

Zack then hid in an empty house for two days before being arrested.

He admitted to killing Smith, claiming he had become enraged when she made a comment about his mother, who was murdered by his sister.

Zack also said he had believed she was going into a room to get a gun and therefore, he had acted in self-defence when he stabbed her.

Attorneys acting for Zack had argued against execution, saying that he suffered from PTSD and fetal alcohol syndrome.

The US Supreme Court rejected the appeal for a stay of execution.

His execution is the eighth in Florida since governor Ron De Santis took office, and the sixth in 2023.

The Florida governor has centred tougher and more far-reaching death penalty laws in his presidential campaign.