Octogenarian inmate dies on Florida's death row

(UPI) -- An octogenarian who spent some four decades on Florida's death row has died, according to court records, making him at least the seventh death row inmate to die while waiting for their sentence to be carried out this year.

Robert Peede, 81, died Monday, according to Florida Department of Corrections records. No cause of death was mentioned.

The Florida Department of Corrections told UPI in an emailed statement that the cause of death is to be determined by the district medical examiner.

Peede was sentenced to death on March 4, 1984, for killing his estranged wife, Darla Peede, on March 31, 1983, near Orlando, Fla.

According to court records, Peede had orchestrated a plan to lure his former wife, Geraldine, and her boyfriend, Calvin Wagner, to a motel in North Carolina where he intended to kill them all.

The court documents state he flew from North Carolina to Miami, where Darla picked him up at the airport. During the drive, Peede mentioned his belief that Darla and Geraldine had placed an ad seeking sexual partners in Swingers magazine. He then stopped the car outside Orlando, jumped into the back seat and stabbed Darla in the neck, causing her to bleed to death within five to 15 minutes.

He then drove back to North Carolina, discarded Darla's body in a wooded area, and intended to continue with his plan to kill Geraldine and Wagner but was arrested beforehand.

In a written statement, included in court documents, Peede confessed to killing Darla and asked for the death penalty and for it "to be carried out as soon as possible."

Peede is at least the seventh death row inmate to die while waiting to be killed by the state this year, which has seen a surge in executions in the United States.

Christopher Sepulvado, 81, died in late February, just weeks before he was to be put to death. He was Louisiana's first person scheduled to be killed by the state in 15 years.

Other death row inmates to die this year include 43-year-old Latavious Johnson on June 6 in Arkansas, and Scott Panetti in late May in Texas.

There have been 26 executions so far this year.

Source: UPI, Darryl Coote, July 23, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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