Florida Executes Man, 77, Convicted Of Deadly Hammer Attack Of Woman

September 30, 2026

Curtis Wilkie Beasley was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday night at Florida State Prison for the 1995 murder of a Polk County woman bludgeoned at her home.

It was the 16th execution by the state this year. Beasley, 77, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m., according to the Department of Corrections.

In 1998 Beasley was convicted of killing 62-year-old Carolyn Monfort of Dundee and sentenced to death.

The execution occurred hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Beasley’s latest emergency application for a stay.

The Florida Supreme Court denied a similar motion last week.

After the circuit court denied a motion for a stay, Beasley’s counsel went to the Florida Supreme Court arguing against the execution due to his age and corresponding cognitive decline, the limited time between the signing of the warrant and execution date, the arbitrary nature of warrants signed by DeSantis, and that the jury did not unanimously recommend death.

DeSantis signed the warrant on Aug. 26.

The jury in 1998 voted 10-2 in its recommendation for Beasley to receive the death penalty. Beasley is the 13th inmate executed this year without receiving a unanimous jury recommendation for death.

According to court records, Monfort’s body was discovered by her son on Aug. 24, 1995 with severe lacerations and bruising to her head and face, along with defensive wounds on her arms and hands.

The head of a hammer, wrapped in two dishtowels, was found broken from its handle near her body.

Beasley, an acquaintance of the family, was staying with Monfort while doing some work at an apartment complex owned by Monfort’s son-in-law.

Monfort’s car was missing, along with $800 a new tenant recently paid for the first and last month’s rent.

Shoes and a wadded-up shirt were found under a bed in the guest room. Subsequent DNA tests indicated that the blood on the shirt belonged to Monfort.

Beasley was arrested five months later at a hotel in Alabama.

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty executive director Grace Hanna questioned DeSantis’ process for signing death warrants.

“Florida is on pace to break its own record for executions, and the governor continues to sign warrants without as much as an explanation for why each person has been chosen,” Hanna said in a released statement. “Carolyn Monfort’s murder was a terrible loss. Thirty-one years later, the State is demanding another death without showing what it will accomplish.”

DeSantis has defended his rapid pace of executions, saying capital punishment is needed to deliver justice for the victims’ families and has also questioned the length of the appeals process.

In the latest motions for a stay from the state, counsel for Beasley asserted that in addition to the need for a wheelchair to move beyond a short distance and performing poorly on verbal reasoning, the 77-year-old was experiencing “cognitive decline, brain fog, depression, and risk factors for vascular dementia.”

The state conducted 19 executions last year, which is a modern era record. The modern era is considered to have started in 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty after a four-year pause.

William Lee Thompson, 74, is scheduled to be executed Oct. 13 for the murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery of Sally Ivester 50 years ago in North Miami Beach.

The execution of William Reaves, 77, is set for Oct. 20 for the 1986 killing of Indian River County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Raczkowski.

by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

Comments

One Response to “Florida Executes Man, 77, Convicted Of Deadly Hammer Attack Of Woman”

  1. Rodney on September 30th, 2026 1:50 am

    The rehabilitation concept has failed but the death sentence will prevent anyone from commiting any other crimes.





Have a comment on this story?

We welcome your comments on this story, but there are some rules to follow::

(1) Be Nice. No comments that slander another, no racism, no sexism, no personal attacks.

(2) No Harrassing Comments. If someone says something bad about you, don't respond. That's childish.

(3) No Libel. That's saying something is not true about someone. Don't do it.

(4) Keep it clean. Nothing vulgar, obscene or sexually related. No profanity or obvious substitutions. Period.

(5) NorthEscambia.com reserves the right to remove any comments that violate our rules or we think to be inappropriate. We are not responsible for what is posted. Comments may not appear right away until they are approved by a moderator.

(6) Limit your comments to the subject in this story only, and limit comments to 300 words or less. Do not post copyrighted material. Comments will not be added to stories that are over 30 days old.

(7) No posts may advertise a commercial business, political candidate or political group, or link to another commercial web site or political site of any kind.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FRONT FEATURE