New Florida death sentence — Court sentences Joseph Zieler to death in decades-old slayings of Robin Cornell, Lisa Story

The victims' families said justice was served 33 years and 44 days later.

The families of the victims in a Cape Coral decades-old double homicide sighed, cried and ultimately clapped, thanking the judge, after Joseph Zieler was sentenced to death.

Relatives of 11-year-old Robin Cornell and her babysitter, Lisa Story, 32, said it's taken 33 years and 44 days. "June 26 is the new date to remember," family and friends reinforced for each other as they hugged.

"I was broken beyond what I ever thought I could come from," Jan Cornell, Robin Cornell's mother, testified.

Jan Cornell said she couldn't let it go.

"I’m asking this court to give justice first and foremost," Jan Cornell said, adding that justice in the slayings had been long overdue. Her voice shook as she spoke.

Lee Circuit Judge Robert Branning announced the sentence after he heard the testimony from six witnesses. They included family and friends of both victims.

Zieler's sentencing began around 2 p.m. Monday and lasted about two hours. He gave the courtroom a side look as bailiffs escorted him out.

"The aggravating factors are horrific and every parent’s worst nightmare," Branning said after he heard the testimony from the witnesses.

Earlier Monday, Joseph Zieler, convicted in double homicide of Cape Coral girl, babysitter, punched his attorney.

When Jan Cornell arrived home about 4 a.m. May 10, 1990, she found Story's and Robin's bodies in adjacent rooms of their shared Cape Coral apartment. Story had moved in that day.

The case had languished before authorities got a DNA match in November 2016, linking Zieler to the crime. He was in Lee County Jail at the time, charged with assaulting his stepson.

Among six witnesses who testified prior to the sentence were one of Robin Cornell's siblings, Jani Cornell, and Lisa Story's boyfriend at the time, Randy Richards.

"The person that did this should never be able to hurt anyone else," Jani Cornell said. She added that she couldn't digest looking at the crime scene photos, showing the body of her slain sister on the floor where they used to play.

Her voice shook as she read a statement.

Richards, as it relates to Story, said the brutal murder affected her friends, family and parents.

He said Story's father "deteriorated" after the murders.

"It was extremely sad," Richards said, adding that Story's mother died from a broken heart.

Richards said the slayings "chilled the community to the bone" and that it was "insanity" from "the very beginning."

"If not for this, then what for?" he asked the court.

Susan Gibson, Story's eldest sister, couldn't be in court, but provided a statement for the prosecutors.

"I feel like I slammed into a brick wall," Gibson wrote. She said the killings affected her and her brother, landing her in psychotherapy for a year.

In her 32 years, Gibson said, Story was a cheerleader, an international student, a motorcyclist and a photographer, among others.

Julie Wilson, a former best friend of Robin Cornell, said the two were "inseparable" for two years, later adding that she was supposed to visit the house the following night.

Both were murdered overnight between May 9 and May 10, 1990.

"It took a long, long time but I feel more relieved," Wilson said.

Attorney elbowed moments before hearing

Hours before his sentencing Monday morning, Zieler had a Spencer hearing, which provided him with the opportunity to appeal directly to Branning regarding the jury's death recommendation.

As the hearing began, Zieler elbowed one of his attorneys, Kevin Shirley, in the face. Bailiffs apprehended and escorted Zieler out of the courtroom. He returned about 10 minutes later with tightened security measures.

Zieler then refused to have his relatives speak on his behalf as he claimed his innocence.

"I have nothing to do with this," he said Monday morning. "I maintain my innocence."

Victims' family, friends react to Joseph Zieler's death sentence

"Nothing can take the place of hearing the words today that justice for Robin and justice for Lisa has happened," Robin's mother, Jan Cornell, said. "He has received the ultimate punishment that the state of Florida can give, which is the death penalty."

She added that she loved them both and doesn't want either of them forgotten.

"They were here ... they lived ... some evil monster cut their lives so short ... so unfair," Jan Cornell said. "But now they have peace, and now we can let them have peace."

She also pointed out that she was "never in the dark" since Zieler's 2016 arrest and link to the homicides.

Richards also thanked detectives and others who never gave up on the homicides.

"Thanks to the system, that it worked," Richards said.

Cape Coral Police share renewed commitment for old cases

Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore differentiated between old cases and cold cases, saying the 1990 slayings never went cold.

He said it took about 12 detectives and a generation of law enforcement to bring the case to resolution.

"It consumed their career, it consumed a good part of their personal life and even into their retirement life," Sizemore said.

He summarized it as a "tremendous day for justice."

"I was reminded of a quote that I said to Jan, probably 15 years ago," Sizemore said as he recounted how he convinced her it was an old case rather than a cold case.

Sizemore said about a month ago when the jury returned with the verdict Jan Cornell repeated that quote to him.

"It was just very, very gratifying to hear that," Sizemore said.

Sizemore said the evidence in the case had gone "different iterations of science advancement" over the past three decades.

"It's certainly the most unique case because of the duration," Sizemore said.

A case that has accompanied State Attorney Amira Fox's Southwest Florida career

State Attorney Amira Fox said she moved to Southwest Florida in 1990 when the double homicide had just happened.

"I started as a young prosecutor, then it's stuck with me all that time," she said of Zieler's case.

Fox said she felt "chills" in court Monday.

Source: Fort Myers News-Press, Tomas Rodriguez Staff, June 27, 2023

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