'Ninja killer' Louis Gaskin executed at Florida State Prison for killing Palm Coast couple

Raiford, Fla. - Louis Bernard Gaskin, known as the "ninja killer," was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday for killing a Palm Coast couple in 1989. He spent the last 33 years of his life on death row.

The 56-year-old Gaskin was convicted in 1990 of two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Robert and Georgette Sturmfels on Dec. 20, 1989.

Kayla McLaughlin Smith, director of communications for the Department of Corrections, said the execution took place "without incident."

Last moments

Before his execution, Gaskin had final words, but they were difficult to understand. "Justice is not about the crime. It's not about the criminal. It's about the law," he said. "Look at my case."

A tan curtain separating Gaskin from witnesses was raised at 6 p.m. Gaskin was restrained with leather straps on each wrist and a white sheet covered him. IV tubes were taped along each arm in preparation for the lethal cocktail of drugs he was about to receive.

Body movement ceased after 6:07 p.m., once the sedative took effect. At one point, the man who led the execution pushed on Gaskin's shoulders and yelled, "Wake up!" There was no reaction.

After 11 minutes, a woman in a white lab coat walked in and checked Gaskin's eyes. She then placed a stethoscope on several places on his chest and neck area. She then said something to the man who led the execution who then said: "The sentence of the state of Florida was carried out at 6:15 p.m."

Among the approximately 23 witnesses were 7th Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano and 7th Circuit State Attorney R.J. Larizza.

Gaskin's last morning

Gaskin woke up at 4:45 a.m. Wednesday. At 9:45 a.m., he had his last meal, which consisted of barbecue pork ribs, buffalo wings, pork and turkey neck, shrimp fried rice, french fries, and water.

Gaskin was offered a sedative, as is customary for executions, but Smith would not comment on whether he accepted it.

Gaskin's sister visited him earlier in the day, according to Smith. His relatives were not allowed to attend the execution. Gaskin did not have a spiritual advisor visit him, Smith said.

Victims or relatives of victims did not attend the execution, Smith said. She described Gaskin as calm and in good spirits.

The crime

Gaskin used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot the Strumfels from outside their house and then broke in and shot them again. Gaskin then stole items, some of which he gave to his girlfriend as Christmas presents. He was dressed in a black ninja outfit.

Gaskin was also convicted of the attempted first-degree murder of Joseph Rector on the same night in the same section of Palm Coast as well as two counts of armed robbery and two counts of burglary.

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Gaskin threw wood and rocks onto the roof of Rectors' house in hopes of luring him out but when he didn't come out of the house, Gaskin shot him through a window. Gaskin had cut the phone line to the house, so Rector and his then-wife Noreen were unable to call for help. But they managed to get in their car and speed off as Gaskin fired at them.

The Sturmfels were part-time residents of Palm Coast. Three years earlier, the New Jersey couple bought a house at 10 Ripley Place and spent their winters there.

Gaskin had told a psychologist before his trial that he knew what he was doing.

"The guilt was always there," he said. "The devil had more of a hold than God did. I knew that I was wrong. I wasn't insane."

Gaskin also confessed to killing a man in 1986.

Victim opposes execution

Noreen Rector says she opposed Gaskin’s execution and that she hoped it would not help Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential ambitions.

"I would be satisfied if Louis remained in prison, without the possibility of release. I don’t believe the death penalty serves any purpose," she said in a statement provided to The News-Journal. "What will really bother me is if this might, in some way, advance Gov. DeSantis in his presidential quest. I find him and his views highly offensive and divisive."

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Joseph Rector could not be reached but told an Orlando television station that he supports the execution. "I think he should die for what he did,” he told WESH last month.

After his conviction, a jury recommended by an 8-4 vote that Gaskin be sentenced to death and a judge followed the recommendation. DeSantis signed the death warrant on March 13.

DeSantis has signed 3 death warrants this year

Gaskin’s was the state’s second death warrant signed by DeSantis this year. The first was Donald Dillbeck, 59, who was executed on Feb. 23 by lethal injection.  Dillbeck was on death row for 32 years.

Dillbeck was convicted and sentenced to death for fatally stabbing Faye Lamb Vann, 44 while carjacking her in a mall parking lot in Tallahassee. Dillbeck stabbed Vann more than 20 times and slit her throat.

When he killed Vann, Dillbeck was already wanted for escaping from a work-release job while serving a life sentence for killing Lee County Deputy Dwight Lynn Hall, 31, in 1979. Dillbeck was 15 at the time he killed the deputy.

Since signing Gaskin's death warrant, DeSantis signed a third death warrant on April 3. That warrant is for Darryl B. Barwick. Barwick was convicted in 1992 of first-degree murder, armed burglary, attempted sexual assault, and armed robbery in the killing of Rebecca Wendt in 1986 in Bay County. Barwick, 56, was sentenced to death 31 years ago in 1992.

Before this year, the last death warrant DeSantis signed was for Gary R. Bowles who was executed on Aug. 22, 2019, for murder in Duval County.

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Bowles was executed after a five-hour delay as the U.S. Supreme Court considered his request for a stay. Bowles, 57, had spent 23 years on death row for killing 42-year-old Walter Hinton, of Jacksonville, in 1994.

Bowles was a serial killer who targeted gay men and killed six in 1994 with the first murder in Daytona Beach where he killed John Hardy Roberts, 59.

Gaskin was Florida's 101st execution since capital punishment resumed in 1979 after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Louis Gaskin known as 'ninja killer' executed at Florida prison