STARKE, FLORIDA — Chadwick Scott Willacy is scheduled to be executed by three-drug lethal injection on April 21, 2026, at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Willacy was convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and arson in the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather at her Palm Bay home.

In September 1990, Sather returned to her home for her lunch break and found Willacy burglarizing it. Willacy struck her in the head with a blunt object, fracturing her skull, and bound her hands and ankles with wire and tape. He attempted to strangle her with a telephone cord, then doused her in gasoline and set her on fire. An autopsy determined that Sather died from smoke inhalation, indicating she was alive when she was set on fire.

Willacy stole Sather's car and other items from her home and used her ATM card to withdraw cash. When Sather did not return from her lunch break, her employer called her family, and her son-in-law later found her body at her home.

A jury recommended the death penalty by a 9-3 vote. In 1994, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing because the trial judge did not allow defense attorneys to rehabilitate a potential juror who indicated she could not recommend the death penalty. A new jury recommended the death sentence by an 11-1 vote, and Willacy was resentenced to death in 1995.

Willacy's appeals included claims based on the state's refusal to grant public records requests about executions and lethal injection. His final appeals were pending before the U.S. Supreme Court at the time of his scheduled execution.

The execution would be the fifth in Florida in 2026. Florida carried out 19 executions in 2025, a state record. The previous single-year record was eight, set in 2014. Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Forty-seven people were executed in the United States in 2025, including five each in Alabama, South Carolina and Texas. All Florida executions are carried out by lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.