Florida to execute William Silvia for 2006 shooting murder of wife

William Silvia, convicted of the 2006 shooting murder of his wife, Patricia, is scheduled to die by lethal injection in August, according to a death warrant filed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 17.

If all previously scheduled executions go as planned, Silvia will be the 13th person put to death in Florida this year, following a record-breaking 19 executions in 2025.

Silvia, now 61, went to his estranged wife's mother's house in Seminole County to attempt to reconcile with her, but first he calmly bought a 12-gauge shotgun and ammunition, prosecutors said. After talking to Patricia Silvia, Silvia got the shotgun from his truck, shot her mother, Betty Woodard, in the face, and fatally shot Patricia in the head, court records show. Woodard, who was standing in front of her daughter, lost her left eye and the top portion of her nose.

The upcoming 11th and 12th executions are scheduled for the same day, the first time that's happened in Florida in 62 years.

Former Lake County police officer James Duckett, convicted of the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa Mae McAbee, and 80-year-old Dominick Anthony Occhicone, convicted of the 1986 murder of his ex-girlfriend's parents, are both scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, July 28. Duckett was rescheduled after his planned March execution was paused pending DNA testing that proved to be inconclusive.

When will William Silvia be executed?

Barring a successful appeal, Silvia is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, at Florida State Prison in Raiford, about 40 miles west of Jacksonville.

Who did William Silvia kill? How did Patricia Silva die?

The Silvias were married in 2002 but by the summer of 2006 Patricia had separated from William Frances Silvia, Jr. and taken her two minor children to live with her mother and stepfather, Betty and Patrick Woodard, in Winter Park. Silvia attempted to reconcile with her multiple times, prosecutors said.

On Sept. 22, 2026, at around 9:20 p.m., the Woodard family was having a cookout in their Winter Park home. Silvia showed up to talk briefly with Patricia, then turned and walked away, prosecutors said. Patricia and her mother went into the house. Patricia's 15-year-old daughter, Rachel, later said she overheard him saying she would be sorry.

Inside, Betty Woodard told her husband she thought she heard firecrackers. She walked outside and was immediately shot in the face. Patrick Woodard entered the kitchen to see Patricia lying on the floor and his wife bleeding outside. He told prosecutors he saw Silvia spot him and point a shotgun at him, and he slammed shut the solid carport door.

Patricia Silvia's 12-year-old son, Ross, saw his mother fall. Her daughter Rachel was in the carport and remembered Silvia aiming at her and someone shoving her to the ground out of the way. There were multiple other people at the gathering.

Investigators found that five and a half hours earlier, Silvia had bought a 12-gauge Mossberg Persuader shotgun from one store and four boxes of shells from another. Surveillance video showed him calmly selecting the weapon, prosecutors said.

After talking to Patricia Silvia, Silvia reportedly went to his truck, got the shotgun, fired one shot into the air, and fired the next six into the Woodards’ carport and house before walking back to his truck and driving away.

Silvia was arrested the next day and told police she had spent all his money and started dating her ex-husband. He was convicted of the first-degree murder of Patricia Silvia and the attempted murder of Betty Woodard. The jury recommended a death sentence by a vote of 11 to 1.

His sentence was vacated in 2017 after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hurst v. Florida ruled that capital sentences "must be found unanimously by the jury." The Florida Supreme Court reinstated it in 2018 after the state appealed.

Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty have started a petition asking DeSantis to commute Silvia's sentence to life imprisonment.

Source: heraldtribune.com, C. A. Bridges, July 20, 2026

"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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