Nov. 4, 2025
MURDERED: Christine McGowan | Apopka, Florida 1990
Apopka, Florida. October 30, 1990. When 10-year-old Christine McGowan's stepfather entered her bedroom to wake her for school—he found her lifeless body face down in bed, the sheets beneath her soaked in blood. The door to their home stood slightly ajar. His white construction truck—keys left in the ignition the night before—had vanished.
Christine McGowan was a blonde-haired child who spent her afternoons watching her neighbor at The Lighthouse Mission halfway house craft decorative wooden boats. She stood in the autumn sun asking if she could watch him work, fascinated by his woodworking skill. She had no way of knowing that Elmer Leon Carroll—the seemingly harmless craftsman next door—was a twice-convicted child molester living under pastoral supervision. On the night of October 29, 1990, as an unseasonable cold front brought 40-degree temperatures and 45 mph winds to central Florida, Carroll's schizophrenic delusions reached a breaking point. Witnesses at Lockahart Tavern watched him drink beer after beer, wrapping his jacket around a chair and holding long conversations with it about demons, devils, and the coming apocalypse. Hours later, he entered the McGowan home through an unlocked door.
This case exposes the catastrophic failures of Florida's 1990s halfway house system and sex offender monitoring. Carroll had served less than two years of a six-year sentence for child molestation, then served just over seven years for a second offense—both times released with minimal supervision directly into residential neighborhoods. The Lighthouse Mission placed a known predator with untreated severe mental illness next door to a family with a young daughter. The investigation moved swiftly—Carroll was apprehended within hours after stealing the family's truck—but the preventable nature of Christine's death haunted the community for years. Her case became a catalyst for examining how convicted sex offenders with documented psychiatric disorders were supervised after release.
This episode contains detailed discussion of child sexual assault, graphic autopsy testimony, and descriptions of fatal violence against a child. This content may be disturbing. Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Key Details:
- The Investigation: Wildlife officer Carl Young spotted Carroll walking on State Road 520 away from the stolen truck just hours after the murder. A box cutter, razor blade, and keys matching the stolen vehicle were found in his possession.
- Forensic Evidence: Medical examiner Dr. Thomas Hegert testified that Christine died from asphyxiation due to manual strangulation—a process taking 3-4 minutes during which she remained conscious for 1-2 minutes. The autopsy revealed severe sexual trauma and blunt force injury to her head.
- The Penalty Phase: The jury recommended death by unanimous 12-0 vote. Carroll was executed on May 29, 2013—nearly 23 years after Christine's murder. He refused to make a final statement and avoided eye contact with Christine's family members who watched him die.
Resources: If you or someone you know has experienced childhood sexual abuse, the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline provides confidential 24/7 support at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or online at rainn.org. The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline offers crisis intervention and professional counseling at 1-800-422-4453.
Credits: Research, writing, and narration by Justin Drown. Production and sound design by Justin Drown. This episode utilized court documents, medical examiner testimony, and contemporary news reporting from the Orlando Sentinel.
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WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome listener.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm glad you're here.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Take a seat.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Next to the fire.
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[SPEAKER_04]: Welcome to Obscura, where we shine a light on the dark.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer Leon Carroll was born on August 19, 1956.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He was born with what was later described as organic brain damage that occurred in utero or before birth.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He grew into a large man with short-brown hair, large ears, and expressionless hazel eyes.
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[SPEAKER_03]: His IQ was around 70.
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[SPEAKER_03]: And even into adulthood, he was believed to have the intelligence of an 11-year-old child.
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[SPEAKER_03]: From the age of 12 years old onward, Elmer had repeated psychological examinations.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It was found that he suffered from auditory and visual hallucinations, that he was sexually abused as a child.
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[SPEAKER_03]: According to Elmer, he was continuously the victim of sexual abuse from a family member, throughout his childhood.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Whether from the trauma, the brain damage, or a combination of both, Elmer soon became haunted by voices, delusions, and seeing people that were not there.
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[SPEAKER_03]: As Elmer grew into adulthood, he became what would later be described as, quote, a closet child molester.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He started sexually abusing his own niece, early into his adulthood, an Elmer, followed that up by sexually molesting the daughter of his brother's neighbor.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It was around this time that Elmer began digging a hole in the ground, and had attempt to kill the demons that wouldn't stop talking to him.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer was diagnosed as schizophrenic, as the years went on.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer Carol became increasingly emboldened.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He was arrested and served prison time twice,
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[SPEAKER_03]: specifically for sexually molesting children, but on both occasions, the stints were short, and Elmer would find himself back on the streets.
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[SPEAKER_03]: But those weren't his only crimes.
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[SPEAKER_03]: In 1976, in Pasco County, Florida, Elmer was arrested for aggravated assault.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He was sentenced to probation,
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[SPEAKER_03]: after being released.
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[SPEAKER_03]: In 1977, Elmer was caught arrested, he posted bail, and then once again went on the run.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He was seemingly successful in avoiding getting caught for this, till he was apprehended in the act of molesting a child.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That was his first time being arrested for doing so.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer was sentenced to six years in prison, a serve less than two of those years.
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[SPEAKER_03]: After being released, Elmer almost immediately was apprehended again for sexually molesting another child.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He had served a little over seven years in prison for the second victimization of a child.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He would have gotten out earlier if it wasn't for his repeated disciplinary issues.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It was soon after his second-stint prison that Elmer was paroled to a halfway house in Apopka, Florida.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Listener.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Apompca is a city I have ties to, a friend I grew up with, who has since passed.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Used to travel there a few times a month from Deltona, where we lived.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Every now and again, I tag along with her on one of these trips to Apompca.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It would usually be to a trailer park her mother visited to score drugs.
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[SPEAKER_03]: My friend and I were around 13 years old.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I remember her pining for a guy she met there to get out of prison, so she could be with him again.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You of course wasn't a dull and pedophile.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I only ever heard his nickname.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Momely.
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[SPEAKER_03]: At this time, these bad things happened all around me.
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[SPEAKER_03]: To the point that they stopped standing out, my friend eventually died from the same affliction her mother had.
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[SPEAKER_03]: drug addiction, after a long list of men who abused her, including a foster parent when she was still under age.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Back to the year 1990 in Apopka, Florida, with Omar Caro.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The halfway home in question was the lighthouse mission.
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[SPEAKER_03]: A pastor shared the home where he tended to garden in its front yard.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Omar worked for a stucco company at the time for minimum wage as a laborer.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He was let go within weeks.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Omer was considered a war course, but work in the area slowed down.
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[SPEAKER_03]: After being released from his job, Omer found a new line of work.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He would take pallets from behind stores and use the wood to fashion decorative boats.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The boat would be well polished and sold for $50 a pop in 1990, which wasn't bad money.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It seemed that Elmer finally found something that he was good at, something that paid handsomely, and to him, things were going well.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It was late that October that a terrible thing occurred.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer Carol was sitting outside in a lawn chair, at the small makeshift table he used, when would working.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He'd been inspired and was crafting a set of Jesus' praying hands.
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[SPEAKER_03]: When he looked up and saw a 10-year-old girl standing in front of him, to Elmer, she must have seemed divinely sent, Christine McGowan stood with her shock of blonde hair, with a smile on her face, her small frame cast against the still bright autumn for the sun.
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[SPEAKER_03]: She asked Elmer, if she could watch him work, he said that she could.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That night, Elmer would tell a friend in the halfway house about the girl next door, that liked to watch him would work.
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[SPEAKER_03]: In the week leading to October 29th, in Apopka, Florida, locals experience torrential rainfall.
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[SPEAKER_03]: this was because of a nearby ocean storm.
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[SPEAKER_03]: On the 29th, though the rain had stopped, there were cloudy skies.
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[SPEAKER_03]: There was a massive drop in temperature that made it an unusually cold October day with temperatures in the forties.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The ocean storm raged on, and this caused 45 miles per hour gusts of wind throughout Apopka, Florida.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The passing of these torrential rains would have been accompanied by a shift at drier, less humid conditions.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Perhaps those with allergies would wake up with a dry cough in H.I.s.
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[SPEAKER_03]: After such a sudden shift from the previous ramp of humidity, the weak prior.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer Caron was growing restless.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He'd been unable to continue his woodworking, due to the weather conditions.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He paced the halfway home talking about the demons that could be dug up from the earth, and how man was gifted the tools to destroy such entities, his halfway home companion stared at each other with unease.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Helmer no longer lived directly in that home with his friends.
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[SPEAKER_03]: he lived in a travel trailer, placed outside.
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[SPEAKER_03]: This was to deal with Elmer's episodes that frequently plagued his mind, disrupted the environment of the lighthouse.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Of course, the pastor and his friends prayed for him, but he could be very disruptive and sometimes hard to control.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Late that evening, Elmer went to a local bar called Lockhart Tavern,
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[SPEAKER_03]: There, Elmer down Budweiser's one after the other, sneering at customers in the bar, who kept their distance, outside a grew darker and darker.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Clouds filled the sky, rainless thunder cracked in the air.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The bartender watched with unease as Elmer took off his jacket, wrapped it around a toll chair, began talking to it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: She recalled Elmer having long dialogues about demons, devils, the undead, which is ghouls what have you.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Now they all would roam free soon on Halloween night.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer talked to his jacket about how the end was near, that the apocalypse was coming, that he needed to take advantage of whatever time he had left.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The bartender approached Elmer and she asked if he was okay.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He told her that the fires of Hell burn bright in his chest, in his wounds.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The Homer tried to rip off his shirt like Hulk Hogan as a display of power, but he failed in the process.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He then spun away from the bartender, pointing in his jacket and said, don't make me look like a fool.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Not in front of her, not anyone.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Your time has come.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer paid the bartender.
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[SPEAKER_03]: She noted that the strange man was soaked in sweat.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That his hands were shaking.
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[SPEAKER_03]: His eyes looked wild.
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[SPEAKER_03]: His hair disheveled.
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[SPEAKER_03]: When Elmer Carol crept up to his neighbor's home, it was dark.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The moon blanketed by deep gray clouds.
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[SPEAKER_03]: To his pleasure, the door was left unlocked.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It was like he was invited.
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[SPEAKER_03]: On October 30th, 1990, at about 6 a.m. in the morning, Robert Rank went to awaken his 10-year-old stepdaughter, Christine McGowan.
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[SPEAKER_03]: When she did not respond to his calls, Rank began to get worried.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He went into her bedroom, and found her dead.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The child was faced down in the bed, her skin
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[SPEAKER_03]: soaked to dark maroon, with a rust lining.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The 10-year-old's body was cold to the touch.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Shortly thereafter, Rank noticed that his front door was slightly a jar, and that his pickup truck he had parked in the yard with a keys in it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The night before was missing.
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[SPEAKER_03]: When the police arrived, they determined that Christina had been raped in strangled, left for dead.
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[SPEAKER_03]: But Bolo was issued for the missing truck, which was a white construction truck, bearing the logo ATC on the side.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Debbie Hyatt saw a white pickup truck park near a residence, East of Orlando on Highway 50.
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[SPEAKER_03]: As she left for work at about 6.50 a.m. that morning, about a mile down the road, she saw
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[SPEAKER_03]: Walking in an easterly direction along the highway away from the truck, he was sweating profusely, his face red, his eyes looked wild, she further described him as having long, scraggly brown hair, vacant eyes that shined wild, wearing a brown jacket, he pulled at the shirt on his chest, and he stumbled easterly.
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[SPEAKER_03]: She did not think too much about it until she later heard over the radio that the police were looking for a white pickup, bearing that ATC logo.
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[SPEAKER_03]: After checking to see that the truck she had seen had the ATC logo described in the radio bullets and she phone the police.
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[SPEAKER_03]: When Sheriff's deputies arrived, she told them about first seeing the truck, and then the man walking down the road, and those vacant, a wild eyes.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Carl Young, a state wildlife officer, was traveling on state road 520 in Orange County on the morning of October 30, 1990, at a point near the intersection of Highway 50.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Young noticed a man with shoulder-length frown hair, wearing a brown jacket, walking down the highway.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Young thought this was strange because he was not carrying anything.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The man looked to sheveled, the man looked back over his shoulder at young as he passed, after turning on the highway 50 in preceding West.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He saw a deputy sheriff behind a white pickup truck with his revolver drawn.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Young went back to the scene to render assistance.
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[SPEAKER_03]: By this time, another deputy had arrived, and he heard Debbie Wyatt tell them about the man she had seen walking down the highway away from the truck.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Young recalled that her description resembled the person that he had just passed.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The young drove back to work Carol was continuing to walk down the road.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Young called to him, but he kept on walking.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Young pulled his gun and ordered Carol to lie down on the ground.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Young made a search for weapons and found a box cutter, razor blade, and some keys.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Through radio communication with a deputy who remained at Ranks Truck, it was determined that the number on the keys matched a number on the truck.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Young and a deputy who arrived to assist him, then placed Carol under arrest.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The event was like a cold plunge for the locals when it came to interest in Halloween that year.
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[SPEAKER_03]: When Christine McGowan's childhood friends were informed their friend had been the victim of a brutal rape and murder, it is reported that the children broke down and cried in every instance.
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[SPEAKER_03]: their parents soon to follow, likely pondering the needless cruelty of the universe.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The pastor of the White House halfway house is said to a phone who is knees and prayed that this senseless murder wasn't committed by Elmer Carol.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It is left to your interpretation, listener.
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[SPEAKER_03]: If this was for hope that Elmer was innocent and truly rehabilitated, or that said pastor, couldn't handle the guilt of having been the keeper and guardian for such a monster.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Dr. Thomas Heger would later testify at trying all the following.
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[SPEAKER_03]: One, that he performed an autopsy on Christine McGowan on October 30, 1990.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 2.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That the cause of death in this case was due to asphyxia, or lack of oxygen to the brain, as a result of mechanical obstruction of the airway, i.e.
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[SPEAKER_03]: strangulation.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 3.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That the victim had injuries to her mouth upper lip that was consistent with someone holding the hand over the child's mouth and pressing downward.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 4.
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[SPEAKER_03]: that the victim had a blunt force trauma injury to the left side of her head.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That was consistent with a blow to the head.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 5.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The victim had injuries to her neck that consisted of abrasions and contusions.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Six, that the victims of a giant was torn between four o'clock and eight o'clock, and there was contusions around the vagina, that these injuries were consistent with attempted sexual intercourse.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Seven, that the type of pain that the victim experienced as a result of tearing or ripping of her vagina was consistent with pain associated mostly with childbirth.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 8.
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[SPEAKER_03]: There was a blue contusion about the anal opening of the victim.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Along with redness and irritation of the rectum, Dr. Heger said those injuries were consistent with attempted penetration of the anus by a penis, or other object of similar configuration.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 9.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That the blow to the head of the victim would not have caused her to become unconscious.
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[SPEAKER_03]: He was of the opinion that she was conscious during the ordeal.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 10.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That it would take three to four minutes to cause death by complete obstruction of the airways.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 11.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That the victim would be conscious one to two minutes before losing consciousness.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 12.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That the victim would be aware of what was going on and be subject to the fear and apprehension of not being able to breathe.
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[SPEAKER_03]: 13.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That the victim was alive and conscious when the
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[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence clearly established beyond a reasonable doubt that young, ten-year-old Christine McGowan did not meet a swift, merciful and relatively painless death, the defendant on the night in question entered her home without leaving a sign of forced entry.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence showed Christine McGowan received a blow to her head, that she was more than likely trying with all the fiber of her being to resist a barbaric attack.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence showed that the defendant, with his penis, literally ripped her vagina apart while he raped her.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence also showed he attempted to have anal intercourse with her.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The agony, the pain, the horror that this child must have
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[SPEAKER_03]: The pain that this child endured as a result of this savage act, coupled with the knowledge that she was not able to breathe, is beyond comprehension.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Death by strangulation is not instantaneous.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The 10-year-old would be conscious for one to two minutes prior to becoming unconscious.
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[SPEAKER_03]: During this time, Christine felt fear, anxiety, emotional strain, and perhaps the foreknowledge of her death.
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[SPEAKER_03]: If any crime that meets the definition of heinous, atrocious or cruel, it is this crime.
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[SPEAKER_03]: At the trial, two other witnesses testified that they had seen the man that they identified as Carol, about 6 a.m. at a 7-11 store near Apopka.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The witness said that Carol was driving a white truck with the ATC logo.
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[SPEAKER_03]: It was also discovered that Carol was a resident of a halfway house located next door to the rank home.
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[SPEAKER_03]: A resident of the halfway house testified that Carol had told him that the girl who lived next door was quote,
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[SPEAKER_03]: She was seen talking to a man next door, who's later identified as Carol, the day before the murder.
17:22.490 --> 17:27.859
[SPEAKER_03]: Seaman, saliva, and pubic hair were covered from the victim were consistent with then of Carol.
17:28.420 --> 17:34.249
[SPEAKER_03]: One DNA profile of a specimen attained from the victim, match Carol's DNA profile.
17:34.465 --> 17:42.272
[SPEAKER_03]: Blood was found on Carol sweatshirt and honest penis, in addition to contesting guilt, Carol raised the defense of insanity.
17:42.813 --> 17:52.462
[SPEAKER_03]: The state and the defense presented conflicting psychiatric testimony on the issue of competence, the jury found Carol guilty of both charges.
17:53.083 --> 17:57.807
[SPEAKER_03]: The Florida State Attorney and Prosecutor had this to say to the jury on sentencing.
17:58.388 --> 18:03.713
[SPEAKER_03]: By your vote, tell Omer Carol, you do not deserve to live.
18:03.963 --> 18:05.645
[SPEAKER_03]: There is nothing good about you.
18:06.326 --> 18:08.007
[SPEAKER_03]: There is nothing good in you.
18:08.047 --> 18:10.290
[SPEAKER_03]: There's nothing but evil in you.
18:11.091 --> 18:11.952
[SPEAKER_03]: And you must die.
18:11.992 --> 18:21.062
[SPEAKER_03]: A small child sometimes will cry out in the night, frightened by a shadow or a piece of wallpaper that looks like a monster.
18:21.642 --> 18:26.848
[SPEAKER_03]: And this child's parents will come in and say, it's okay, you don't have to be afraid.
18:26.828 --> 18:43.875
[SPEAKER_03]: There's no monsters under the bed, there is no buggy man, there is no creature which stalks the night, searching out children, it doesn't exist, while ladies and gentlemen, those parents lie, because ladies and gentlemen
18:43.855 --> 18:47.164
[SPEAKER_03]: that is the boogie man sitting right there.
18:47.725 --> 18:52.557
[SPEAKER_03]: That is the creature that stalked the night and murdered a ten-year-old girl.
18:52.999 --> 18:56.528
[SPEAKER_03]: She feared for her life, and she died painfully.
18:56.588 --> 19:00.177
[SPEAKER_03]: And for that, he must die.
19:00.157 --> 19:07.108
[SPEAKER_03]: Following the penalty phase for seating, the jury returned a recommendation of death by a vote of 12 and 0.
19:07.148 --> 19:10.754
[SPEAKER_03]: Thereafter, the trial judge sent its carol to death.
19:11.235 --> 19:13.017
[SPEAKER_03]: Helmer Carol had many appeals.
19:13.638 --> 19:18.586
[SPEAKER_03]: Usually arguing that he's insane, or about the abusive childhood he endured.
19:19.147 --> 19:25.337
[SPEAKER_03]: Listener, if you want to escape the death penalty, no matter what your thoughts are on the death penalty,
19:25.469 --> 19:29.095
[SPEAKER_03]: I would recommend not committing a heinous crime in the state of Florida.
19:29.595 --> 19:34.182
[SPEAKER_03]: We hold the highest rate of executions, and surpassed Texas long ago.
19:34.222 --> 19:42.415
[SPEAKER_03]: Anti-death penalty groups helped Elmer Carroll stage a last minute appeal, and in attempt to save his life, it didn't work.
19:42.395 --> 19:50.585
[SPEAKER_03]: The usual suspects didn't seem to have too much passion and defending Elmer Carol, usually as an execution is about to be carried out.
19:51.086 --> 20:08.487
[SPEAKER_03]: The location attracts a large crowd of people to protest, said execution, but Mr. Carol didn't seem to inspire or gather the usual amount of sympathy or outrage to gather such a large group on May 29, 2013.
20:08.467 --> 20:24.417
[SPEAKER_03]: On a Wednesday morning, Carol ate a last meal of sunny side up eggs, with bacon and sliced tomatoes, biscuits, avocados, a fruit salad of strawberries, papaya, peaches, and pineapple, and canned milk.
20:24.397 --> 20:40.099
[SPEAKER_03]: I imagine this meal was more extravagant than what Little Christine McGowan, on the night she was strangled by the man she enjoyed watching build boats, dreams of Halloween candy, dancing in her mind, before being awoken by the bogey man.
20:40.659 --> 20:46.928
[SPEAKER_03]: Homer Carroll had two visitors that day, a mitigation specialist and a Catholic priest,
20:46.908 --> 20:50.033
[SPEAKER_03]: No family members or friends visited him that day.
20:50.093 --> 21:04.056
[SPEAKER_03]: Only the family members of Christine watched him die from lethal injection, as he refused to look in their eyes, staring at the ceiling, in fear, or perhaps shame, as that poison entered a system.
21:04.036 --> 21:11.113
[SPEAKER_03]: He refused to give any last words, listener, and as consciousness slipped away, and his heart began to fail.
21:11.634 --> 21:20.475
[SPEAKER_03]: I hope Elmer Leon Carroll felt even an ounce of the fear, inflicted on the victims he left behind, both living and dead.
21:21.130 --> 21:26.678
[SPEAKER_00]: Raived in Strangled, a 10 year old, a pop girl was put to death tonight more than two decades after that heinous crime.
21:26.959 --> 21:28.802
[SPEAKER_00]: Wushed to Israel, I lend joins us now in Trevelle.
21:29.262 --> 21:31.105
[SPEAKER_00]: What war, Elmer Carol's last words?
21:31.446 --> 21:35.331
[SPEAKER_05]: I'll see you on one, an official at the state prison ask Carol if you wish to make a final statement.
21:35.512 --> 21:36.874
[SPEAKER_05]: He would reply with two words.
21:37.114 --> 21:37.695
[SPEAKER_05]: No, sir.
21:38.056 --> 21:46.328
[SPEAKER_05]: But the victim's mother issued this statement saying, thank you to all that have worked so hard for justice for all, namely Christine McGowan, rest in peace.
21:46.308 --> 21:51.333
[SPEAKER_05]: It's been 22 years since 10-year-old Christine McGowan was raped and killed inside of her apocca home.
21:51.773 --> 21:53.955
[SPEAKER_05]: On Wednesday, the man who did it was put to death.
21:54.355 --> 21:58.959
[SPEAKER_05]: Elmer Carroll was given lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Stark at 601 PM.
21:59.220 --> 22:00.901
[SPEAKER_05]: He was pronounced dead at 6.12.
22:01.322 --> 22:05.265
[SPEAKER_02]: With in four minutes, you can begin to see the process of death setting in.
22:05.846 --> 22:09.089
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a phase started turning white, but let's start it turning purple.
22:09.309 --> 22:11.771
[SPEAKER_05]: He had no friends or family members present.
22:11.791 --> 22:16.315
[SPEAKER_05]: Five of McGowan's family members were among those who watched him die.
22:16.295 --> 22:22.465
[SPEAKER_01]: And he looked straight at the sky, had tilted a little bit, didn't look at anybody, not even the team leader.
22:22.485 --> 22:27.874
[SPEAKER_05]: Carol was arrested in 1990, at the time he was living next door to the victim at the lighthouse mission.
22:28.054 --> 22:29.637
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a half-way house for homeless men.
22:29.938 --> 22:35.687
[SPEAKER_05]: The girl's stepfather found her strangled in her bedroom, traces of Carol's DNA were found on the victim's body.
22:35.667 --> 22:41.335
[SPEAKER_05]: Carroll's lawyer argued that he was too mentally ill to be executed, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal.
22:41.656 --> 22:51.029
[SPEAKER_05]: For his last meal, Carroll had two eggs, sunny side up, bacon, sliced tomatoes, biscuits, fruit salad, avocados, and a can of carnation cream milk.
22:51.049 --> 22:55.716
[SPEAKER_05]: Carroll had been locked up twice for indecent assault on a child before he killed McGowan.
22:55.916 --> 22:59.001
[SPEAKER_05]: The Orange Osteole County State Attorney Jeff Ashton prosecuted this case.
22:59.261 --> 23:00.763
[SPEAKER_05]: He was there for the execution tonight.
23:01.004 --> 23:03.447
[SPEAKER_05]: He says this marks completion for MCON.
00:05.060 --> 00:05.902
[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome listener.
00:06.804 --> 00:07.746
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm glad you're here.
00:08.768 --> 00:09.269
[SPEAKER_03]: Take a seat.
00:10.071 --> 00:10.853
[SPEAKER_03]: Next to the fire.
00:14.461 --> 00:21.837
[SPEAKER_04]: Welcome to Obscura, where we shine a light on the dark.
00:43.282 --> 00:48.369
[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer Leon Carroll was born on August 19, 1956.
00:48.950 --> 00:56.020
[SPEAKER_03]: He was born with what was later described as organic brain damage that occurred in utero or before birth.
00:56.540 --> 01:03.450
[SPEAKER_03]: He grew into a large man with short-brown hair, large ears, and expressionless hazel eyes.
01:03.950 --> 01:05.813
[SPEAKER_03]: His IQ was around 70.
01:05.793 --> 01:10.979
[SPEAKER_03]: And even into adulthood, he was believed to have the intelligence of an 11-year-old child.
01:11.519 --> 01:17.846
[SPEAKER_03]: From the age of 12 years old onward, Elmer had repeated psychological examinations.
01:18.867 --> 01:25.495
[SPEAKER_03]: It was found that he suffered from auditory and visual hallucinations, that he was sexually abused as a child.
01:26.135 --> 01:33.083
[SPEAKER_03]: According to Elmer, he was continuously the victim of sexual abuse from a family member, throughout his childhood.
01:33.063 --> 01:43.357
[SPEAKER_03]: Whether from the trauma, the brain damage, or a combination of both, Elmer soon became haunted by voices, delusions, and seeing people that were not there.
01:43.898 --> 01:51.308
[SPEAKER_03]: As Elmer grew into adulthood, he became what would later be described as, quote, a closet child molester.
01:51.288 --> 02:01.318
[SPEAKER_03]: He started sexually abusing his own niece, early into his adulthood, an Elmer, followed that up by sexually molesting the daughter of his brother's neighbor.
02:01.779 --> 02:09.567
[SPEAKER_03]: It was around this time that Elmer began digging a hole in the ground, and had attempt to kill the demons that wouldn't stop talking to him.
02:10.068 --> 02:13.711
[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer was diagnosed as schizophrenic, as the years went on.
02:14.332 --> 02:16.835
[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer Carol became increasingly emboldened.
02:17.335 --> 02:19.978
[SPEAKER_03]: He was arrested and served prison time twice,
02:19.958 --> 02:28.769
[SPEAKER_03]: specifically for sexually molesting children, but on both occasions, the stints were short, and Elmer would find himself back on the streets.
02:29.249 --> 02:30.911
[SPEAKER_03]: But those weren't his only crimes.
02:31.472 --> 02:37.819
[SPEAKER_03]: In 1976, in Pasco County, Florida, Elmer was arrested for aggravated assault.
02:38.220 --> 02:42.625
[SPEAKER_03]: He was sentenced to probation,
02:42.605 --> 02:43.927
[SPEAKER_03]: after being released.
02:44.448 --> 02:51.760
[SPEAKER_03]: In 1977, Elmer was caught arrested, he posted bail, and then once again went on the run.
02:51.820 --> 02:59.172
[SPEAKER_03]: He was seemingly successful in avoiding getting caught for this, till he was apprehended in the act of molesting a child.
02:59.512 --> 03:02.197
[SPEAKER_03]: That was his first time being arrested for doing so.
03:02.777 --> 03:08.106
[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer was sentenced to six years in prison, a serve less than two of those years.
03:08.086 --> 03:15.153
[SPEAKER_03]: After being released, Elmer almost immediately was apprehended again for sexually molesting another child.
03:15.594 --> 03:20.859
[SPEAKER_03]: He had served a little over seven years in prison for the second victimization of a child.
03:21.300 --> 03:25.604
[SPEAKER_03]: He would have gotten out earlier if it wasn't for his repeated disciplinary issues.
03:26.145 --> 03:31.871
[SPEAKER_03]: It was soon after his second-stint prison that Elmer was paroled to a halfway house in Apopka, Florida.
03:32.391 --> 03:33.132
[SPEAKER_03]: Listener.
03:33.112 --> 03:38.840
[SPEAKER_03]: Apompca is a city I have ties to, a friend I grew up with, who has since passed.
03:39.461 --> 03:43.387
[SPEAKER_03]: Used to travel there a few times a month from Deltona, where we lived.
03:43.867 --> 03:47.993
[SPEAKER_03]: Every now and again, I tag along with her on one of these trips to Apompca.
03:48.454 --> 03:52.740
[SPEAKER_03]: It would usually be to a trailer park her mother visited to score drugs.
03:52.720 --> 03:55.144
[SPEAKER_03]: My friend and I were around 13 years old.
03:55.664 --> 04:00.632
[SPEAKER_03]: I remember her pining for a guy she met there to get out of prison, so she could be with him again.
04:01.113 --> 04:03.176
[SPEAKER_03]: You of course wasn't a dull and pedophile.
04:03.636 --> 04:05.199
[SPEAKER_03]: I only ever heard his nickname.
04:05.860 --> 04:06.401
[SPEAKER_03]: Momely.
04:07.041 --> 04:09.906
[SPEAKER_03]: At this time, these bad things happened all around me.
04:10.386 --> 04:16.095
[SPEAKER_03]: To the point that they stopped standing out, my friend eventually died from the same affliction her mother had.
04:16.075 --> 04:22.764
[SPEAKER_03]: drug addiction, after a long list of men who abused her, including a foster parent when she was still under age.
04:23.385 --> 04:26.950
[SPEAKER_03]: Back to the year 1990 in Apopka, Florida, with Omar Caro.
04:27.511 --> 04:30.134
[SPEAKER_03]: The halfway home in question was the lighthouse mission.
04:30.935 --> 04:34.400
[SPEAKER_03]: A pastor shared the home where he tended to garden in its front yard.
04:34.961 --> 04:39.467
[SPEAKER_03]: Omar worked for a stucco company at the time for minimum wage as a laborer.
04:39.447 --> 04:40.990
[SPEAKER_03]: He was let go within weeks.
04:41.611 --> 04:45.799
[SPEAKER_03]: Omer was considered a war course, but work in the area slowed down.
04:46.421 --> 04:50.248
[SPEAKER_03]: After being released from his job, Omer found a new line of work.
04:50.749 --> 04:56.460
[SPEAKER_03]: He would take pallets from behind stores and use the wood to fashion decorative boats.
04:56.440 --> 05:02.988
[SPEAKER_03]: The boat would be well polished and sold for $50 a pop in 1990, which wasn't bad money.
05:03.588 --> 05:10.857
[SPEAKER_03]: It seemed that Elmer finally found something that he was good at, something that paid handsomely, and to him, things were going well.
05:11.537 --> 05:15.041
[SPEAKER_03]: It was late that October that a terrible thing occurred.
05:15.722 --> 05:22.650
[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer Carol was sitting outside in a lawn chair, at the small makeshift table he used, when would working.
05:22.630 --> 05:26.655
[SPEAKER_03]: He'd been inspired and was crafting a set of Jesus' praying hands.
05:27.196 --> 05:44.638
[SPEAKER_03]: When he looked up and saw a 10-year-old girl standing in front of him, to Elmer, she must have seemed divinely sent, Christine McGowan stood with her shock of blonde hair, with a smile on her face, her small frame cast against the still bright autumn for the sun.
05:44.618 --> 05:48.463
[SPEAKER_03]: She asked Elmer, if she could watch him work, he said that she could.
05:48.523 --> 05:55.413
[SPEAKER_03]: That night, Elmer would tell a friend in the halfway house about the girl next door, that liked to watch him would work.
05:56.174 --> 06:03.083
[SPEAKER_03]: In the week leading to October 29th, in Apopka, Florida, locals experience torrential rainfall.
06:03.063 --> 06:05.489
[SPEAKER_03]: this was because of a nearby ocean storm.
06:06.371 --> 06:11.404
[SPEAKER_03]: On the 29th, though the rain had stopped, there were cloudy skies.
06:12.086 --> 06:19.705
[SPEAKER_03]: There was a massive drop in temperature that made it an unusually cold October day with temperatures in the forties.
06:19.685 --> 06:27.136
[SPEAKER_03]: The ocean storm raged on, and this caused 45 miles per hour gusts of wind throughout Apopka, Florida.
06:27.577 --> 06:34.047
[SPEAKER_03]: The passing of these torrential rains would have been accompanied by a shift at drier, less humid conditions.
06:34.628 --> 06:38.473
[SPEAKER_03]: Perhaps those with allergies would wake up with a dry cough in H.I.s.
06:38.994 --> 06:43.421
[SPEAKER_03]: After such a sudden shift from the previous ramp of humidity, the weak prior.
06:44.002 --> 06:46.165
[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer Caron was growing restless.
06:46.145 --> 06:50.273
[SPEAKER_03]: He'd been unable to continue his woodworking, due to the weather conditions.
06:50.874 --> 07:03.157
[SPEAKER_03]: He paced the halfway home talking about the demons that could be dug up from the earth, and how man was gifted the tools to destroy such entities, his halfway home companion stared at each other with unease.
07:03.778 --> 07:07.765
[SPEAKER_03]: Helmer no longer lived directly in that home with his friends.
07:07.745 --> 07:10.690
[SPEAKER_03]: he lived in a travel trailer, placed outside.
07:11.251 --> 07:18.024
[SPEAKER_03]: This was to deal with Elmer's episodes that frequently plagued his mind, disrupted the environment of the lighthouse.
07:18.625 --> 07:25.237
[SPEAKER_03]: Of course, the pastor and his friends prayed for him, but he could be very disruptive and sometimes hard to control.
07:25.778 --> 07:30.867
[SPEAKER_03]: Late that evening, Elmer went to a local bar called Lockhart Tavern,
07:30.847 --> 07:40.704
[SPEAKER_03]: There, Elmer down Budweiser's one after the other, sneering at customers in the bar, who kept their distance, outside a grew darker and darker.
07:41.265 --> 07:45.412
[SPEAKER_03]: Clouds filled the sky, rainless thunder cracked in the air.
07:45.913 --> 07:53.125
[SPEAKER_03]: The bartender watched with unease as Elmer took off his jacket, wrapped it around a toll chair, began talking to it.
07:53.105 --> 08:00.413
[SPEAKER_03]: She recalled Elmer having long dialogues about demons, devils, the undead, which is ghouls what have you.
08:00.833 --> 08:04.357
[SPEAKER_03]: Now they all would roam free soon on Halloween night.
08:04.958 --> 08:13.908
[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer talked to his jacket about how the end was near, that the apocalypse was coming, that he needed to take advantage of whatever time he had left.
08:14.368 --> 08:18.032
[SPEAKER_03]: The bartender approached Elmer and she asked if he was okay.
08:18.012 --> 08:22.800
[SPEAKER_03]: He told her that the fires of Hell burn bright in his chest, in his wounds.
08:23.281 --> 08:29.172
[SPEAKER_03]: The Homer tried to rip off his shirt like Hulk Hogan as a display of power, but he failed in the process.
08:29.532 --> 08:35.683
[SPEAKER_03]: He then spun away from the bartender, pointing in his jacket and said, don't make me look like a fool.
08:35.663 --> 08:37.866
[SPEAKER_03]: Not in front of her, not anyone.
08:38.247 --> 08:39.209
[SPEAKER_03]: Your time has come.
08:39.810 --> 08:41.112
[SPEAKER_03]: Elmer paid the bartender.
08:41.532 --> 08:44.237
[SPEAKER_03]: She noted that the strange man was soaked in sweat.
08:44.557 --> 08:45.779
[SPEAKER_03]: That his hands were shaking.
08:46.220 --> 08:47.462
[SPEAKER_03]: His eyes looked wild.
08:47.962 --> 08:49.004
[SPEAKER_03]: His hair disheveled.
08:50.086 --> 08:53.491
[SPEAKER_03]: When Elmer Carol crept up to his neighbor's home, it was dark.
08:54.112 --> 08:56.676
[SPEAKER_03]: The moon blanketed by deep gray clouds.
08:57.297 --> 09:00.462
[SPEAKER_03]: To his pleasure, the door was left unlocked.
09:01.123 --> 09:02.886
[SPEAKER_03]: It was like he was invited.
09:03.271 --> 09:13.340
[SPEAKER_03]: On October 30th, 1990, at about 6 a.m. in the morning, Robert Rank went to awaken his 10-year-old stepdaughter, Christine McGowan.
09:14.021 --> 09:18.085
[SPEAKER_03]: When she did not respond to his calls, Rank began to get worried.
09:18.645 --> 09:21.327
[SPEAKER_03]: He went into her bedroom, and found her dead.
09:22.028 --> 09:30.696
[SPEAKER_03]: The child was faced down in the bed, her skin
09:30.676 --> 09:33.761
[SPEAKER_03]: soaked to dark maroon, with a rust lining.
09:34.443 --> 09:36.767
[SPEAKER_03]: The 10-year-old's body was cold to the touch.
09:37.448 --> 09:45.842
[SPEAKER_03]: Shortly thereafter, Rank noticed that his front door was slightly a jar, and that his pickup truck he had parked in the yard with a keys in it.
09:46.203 --> 09:48.567
[SPEAKER_03]: The night before was missing.
09:48.547 --> 09:54.332
[SPEAKER_03]: When the police arrived, they determined that Christina had been raped in strangled, left for dead.
09:54.953 --> 10:02.239
[SPEAKER_03]: But Bolo was issued for the missing truck, which was a white construction truck, bearing the logo ATC on the side.
10:02.259 --> 10:09.065
[SPEAKER_03]: Debbie Hyatt saw a white pickup truck park near a residence, East of Orlando on Highway 50.
10:09.605 --> 10:18.553
[SPEAKER_03]: As she left for work at about 6.50 a.m. that morning, about a mile down the road, she saw
10:18.533 --> 10:42.972
[SPEAKER_03]: Walking in an easterly direction along the highway away from the truck, he was sweating profusely, his face red, his eyes looked wild, she further described him as having long, scraggly brown hair, vacant eyes that shined wild, wearing a brown jacket, he pulled at the shirt on his chest, and he stumbled easterly.
10:42.952 --> 10:51.913
[SPEAKER_03]: She did not think too much about it until she later heard over the radio that the police were looking for a white pickup, bearing that ATC logo.
10:52.594 --> 11:00.252
[SPEAKER_03]: After checking to see that the truck she had seen had the ATC logo described in the radio bullets and she phone the police.
11:00.232 --> 11:09.309
[SPEAKER_03]: When Sheriff's deputies arrived, she told them about first seeing the truck, and then the man walking down the road, and those vacant, a wild eyes.
11:09.850 --> 11:22.695
[SPEAKER_03]: Carl Young, a state wildlife officer, was traveling on state road 520 in Orange County on the morning of October 30, 1990, at a point near the intersection of Highway 50.
11:23.097 --> 11:29.248
[SPEAKER_03]: Young noticed a man with shoulder-length frown hair, wearing a brown jacket, walking down the highway.
11:29.729 --> 11:33.195
[SPEAKER_03]: Young thought this was strange because he was not carrying anything.
11:33.736 --> 11:41.730
[SPEAKER_03]: The man looked to sheveled, the man looked back over his shoulder at young as he passed, after turning on the highway 50 in preceding West.
11:41.710 --> 11:46.516
[SPEAKER_03]: He saw a deputy sheriff behind a white pickup truck with his revolver drawn.
11:46.977 --> 11:49.460
[SPEAKER_03]: Young went back to the scene to render assistance.
11:49.921 --> 11:58.672
[SPEAKER_03]: By this time, another deputy had arrived, and he heard Debbie Wyatt tell them about the man she had seen walking down the highway away from the truck.
11:59.233 --> 12:03.278
[SPEAKER_03]: Young recalled that her description resembled the person that he had just passed.
12:03.759 --> 12:07.143
[SPEAKER_03]: The young drove back to work Carol was continuing to walk down the road.
12:07.744 --> 12:10.688
[SPEAKER_03]: Young called to him, but he kept on walking.
12:10.820 --> 12:14.446
[SPEAKER_03]: Young pulled his gun and ordered Carol to lie down on the ground.
12:14.947 --> 12:19.655
[SPEAKER_03]: Young made a search for weapons and found a box cutter, razor blade, and some keys.
12:20.136 --> 12:28.250
[SPEAKER_03]: Through radio communication with a deputy who remained at Ranks Truck, it was determined that the number on the keys matched a number on the truck.
12:28.751 --> 12:33.739
[SPEAKER_03]: Young and a deputy who arrived to assist him, then placed Carol under arrest.
12:33.719 --> 12:38.888
[SPEAKER_03]: The event was like a cold plunge for the locals when it came to interest in Halloween that year.
12:39.489 --> 12:50.108
[SPEAKER_03]: When Christine McGowan's childhood friends were informed their friend had been the victim of a brutal rape and murder, it is reported that the children broke down and cried in every instance.
12:50.088 --> 12:55.241
[SPEAKER_03]: their parents soon to follow, likely pondering the needless cruelty of the universe.
12:55.742 --> 13:04.222
[SPEAKER_03]: The pastor of the White House halfway house is said to a phone who is knees and prayed that this senseless murder wasn't committed by Elmer Carol.
13:05.125 --> 13:08.232
[SPEAKER_03]: It is left to your interpretation, listener.
13:08.212 --> 13:19.447
[SPEAKER_03]: If this was for hope that Elmer was innocent and truly rehabilitated, or that said pastor, couldn't handle the guilt of having been the keeper and guardian for such a monster.
13:20.068 --> 13:23.793
[SPEAKER_03]: Dr. Thomas Heger would later testify at trying all the following.
13:24.834 --> 13:30.962
[SPEAKER_03]: One, that he performed an autopsy on Christine McGowan on October 30, 1990.
13:31.077 --> 13:31.377
[SPEAKER_03]: 2.
13:31.417 --> 13:41.750
[SPEAKER_03]: That the cause of death in this case was due to asphyxia, or lack of oxygen to the brain, as a result of mechanical obstruction of the airway, i.e.
13:42.190 --> 13:43.071
[SPEAKER_03]: strangulation.
13:43.091 --> 13:43.952
[SPEAKER_03]: 3.
13:44.613 --> 13:52.602
[SPEAKER_03]: That the victim had injuries to her mouth upper lip that was consistent with someone holding the hand over the child's mouth and pressing downward.
13:52.622 --> 13:54.064
[SPEAKER_03]: 4.
13:54.044 --> 13:57.714
[SPEAKER_03]: that the victim had a blunt force trauma injury to the left side of her head.
13:57.774 --> 14:00.140
[SPEAKER_03]: That was consistent with a blow to the head.
14:00.160 --> 14:01.183
[SPEAKER_03]: 5.
14:01.223 --> 14:06.838
[SPEAKER_03]: The victim had injuries to her neck that consisted of abrasions and contusions.
14:07.105 --> 14:18.521
[SPEAKER_03]: Six, that the victims of a giant was torn between four o'clock and eight o'clock, and there was contusions around the vagina, that these injuries were consistent with attempted sexual intercourse.
14:19.182 --> 14:30.497
[SPEAKER_03]: Seven, that the type of pain that the victim experienced as a result of tearing or ripping of her vagina was consistent with pain associated mostly with childbirth.
14:30.477 --> 14:30.838
[SPEAKER_03]: 8.
14:31.398 --> 14:35.083
[SPEAKER_03]: There was a blue contusion about the anal opening of the victim.
14:35.584 --> 14:46.359
[SPEAKER_03]: Along with redness and irritation of the rectum, Dr. Heger said those injuries were consistent with attempted penetration of the anus by a penis, or other object of similar configuration.
14:46.379 --> 14:47.300
[SPEAKER_03]: 9.
14:47.821 --> 14:51.987
[SPEAKER_03]: That the blow to the head of the victim would not have caused her to become unconscious.
14:52.548 --> 14:56.333
[SPEAKER_03]: He was of the opinion that she was conscious during the ordeal.
14:56.313 --> 14:56.733
[SPEAKER_03]: 10.
14:57.334 --> 15:01.860
[SPEAKER_03]: That it would take three to four minutes to cause death by complete obstruction of the airways.
15:01.880 --> 15:03.321
[SPEAKER_03]: 11.
15:03.902 --> 15:07.787
[SPEAKER_03]: That the victim would be conscious one to two minutes before losing consciousness.
15:07.807 --> 15:09.068
[SPEAKER_03]: 12.
15:09.669 --> 15:17.118
[SPEAKER_03]: That the victim would be aware of what was going on and be subject to the fear and apprehension of not being able to breathe.
15:17.138 --> 15:18.279
[SPEAKER_03]: 13.
15:18.980 --> 15:25.948
[SPEAKER_03]: That the victim was alive and conscious when the
15:25.928 --> 15:42.469
[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence clearly established beyond a reasonable doubt that young, ten-year-old Christine McGowan did not meet a swift, merciful and relatively painless death, the defendant on the night in question entered her home without leaving a sign of forced entry.
15:42.449 --> 15:52.021
[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence showed Christine McGowan received a blow to her head, that she was more than likely trying with all the fiber of her being to resist a barbaric attack.
15:52.622 --> 15:58.850
[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence showed that the defendant, with his penis, literally ripped her vagina apart while he raped her.
15:59.410 --> 16:03.095
[SPEAKER_03]: The evidence also showed he attempted to have anal intercourse with her.
16:03.596 --> 16:10.144
[SPEAKER_03]: The agony, the pain, the horror that this child must have
16:10.259 --> 16:18.611
[SPEAKER_03]: The pain that this child endured as a result of this savage act, coupled with the knowledge that she was not able to breathe, is beyond comprehension.
16:19.092 --> 16:22.457
[SPEAKER_03]: Death by strangulation is not instantaneous.
16:23.178 --> 16:27.805
[SPEAKER_03]: The 10-year-old would be conscious for one to two minutes prior to becoming unconscious.
16:28.325 --> 16:36.317
[SPEAKER_03]: During this time, Christine felt fear, anxiety, emotional strain, and perhaps the foreknowledge of her death.
16:36.297 --> 16:41.726
[SPEAKER_03]: If any crime that meets the definition of heinous, atrocious or cruel, it is this crime.
16:41.786 --> 16:53.226
[SPEAKER_03]: At the trial, two other witnesses testified that they had seen the man that they identified as Carol, about 6 a.m. at a 7-11 store near Apopka.
16:53.206 --> 16:57.472
[SPEAKER_03]: The witness said that Carol was driving a white truck with the ATC logo.
16:57.933 --> 17:03.762
[SPEAKER_03]: It was also discovered that Carol was a resident of a halfway house located next door to the rank home.
17:04.303 --> 17:15.940
[SPEAKER_03]: A resident of the halfway house testified that Carol had told him that the girl who lived next door was quote,
17:15.920 --> 17:21.849
[SPEAKER_03]: She was seen talking to a man next door, who's later identified as Carol, the day before the murder.
17:22.490 --> 17:27.859
[SPEAKER_03]: Seaman, saliva, and pubic hair were covered from the victim were consistent with then of Carol.
17:28.420 --> 17:34.249
[SPEAKER_03]: One DNA profile of a specimen attained from the victim, match Carol's DNA profile.
17:34.465 --> 17:42.272
[SPEAKER_03]: Blood was found on Carol sweatshirt and honest penis, in addition to contesting guilt, Carol raised the defense of insanity.
17:42.813 --> 17:52.462
[SPEAKER_03]: The state and the defense presented conflicting psychiatric testimony on the issue of competence, the jury found Carol guilty of both charges.
17:53.083 --> 17:57.807
[SPEAKER_03]: The Florida State Attorney and Prosecutor had this to say to the jury on sentencing.
17:58.388 --> 18:03.713
[SPEAKER_03]: By your vote, tell Omer Carol, you do not deserve to live.
18:03.963 --> 18:05.645
[SPEAKER_03]: There is nothing good about you.
18:06.326 --> 18:08.007
[SPEAKER_03]: There is nothing good in you.
18:08.047 --> 18:10.290
[SPEAKER_03]: There's nothing but evil in you.
18:11.091 --> 18:11.952
[SPEAKER_03]: And you must die.
18:11.992 --> 18:21.062
[SPEAKER_03]: A small child sometimes will cry out in the night, frightened by a shadow or a piece of wallpaper that looks like a monster.
18:21.642 --> 18:26.848
[SPEAKER_03]: And this child's parents will come in and say, it's okay, you don't have to be afraid.
18:26.828 --> 18:43.875
[SPEAKER_03]: There's no monsters under the bed, there is no buggy man, there is no creature which stalks the night, searching out children, it doesn't exist, while ladies and gentlemen, those parents lie, because ladies and gentlemen
18:43.855 --> 18:47.164
[SPEAKER_03]: that is the boogie man sitting right there.
18:47.725 --> 18:52.557
[SPEAKER_03]: That is the creature that stalked the night and murdered a ten-year-old girl.
18:52.999 --> 18:56.528
[SPEAKER_03]: She feared for her life, and she died painfully.
18:56.588 --> 19:00.177
[SPEAKER_03]: And for that, he must die.
19:00.157 --> 19:07.108
[SPEAKER_03]: Following the penalty phase for seating, the jury returned a recommendation of death by a vote of 12 and 0.
19:07.148 --> 19:10.754
[SPEAKER_03]: Thereafter, the trial judge sent its carol to death.
19:11.235 --> 19:13.017
[SPEAKER_03]: Helmer Carol had many appeals.
19:13.638 --> 19:18.586
[SPEAKER_03]: Usually arguing that he's insane, or about the abusive childhood he endured.
19:19.147 --> 19:25.337
[SPEAKER_03]: Listener, if you want to escape the death penalty, no matter what your thoughts are on the death penalty,
19:25.469 --> 19:29.095
[SPEAKER_03]: I would recommend not committing a heinous crime in the state of Florida.
19:29.595 --> 19:34.182
[SPEAKER_03]: We hold the highest rate of executions, and surpassed Texas long ago.
19:34.222 --> 19:42.415
[SPEAKER_03]: Anti-death penalty groups helped Elmer Carroll stage a last minute appeal, and in attempt to save his life, it didn't work.
19:42.395 --> 19:50.585
[SPEAKER_03]: The usual suspects didn't seem to have too much passion and defending Elmer Carol, usually as an execution is about to be carried out.
19:51.086 --> 20:08.487
[SPEAKER_03]: The location attracts a large crowd of people to protest, said execution, but Mr. Carol didn't seem to inspire or gather the usual amount of sympathy or outrage to gather such a large group on May 29, 2013.
20:08.467 --> 20:24.417
[SPEAKER_03]: On a Wednesday morning, Carol ate a last meal of sunny side up eggs, with bacon and sliced tomatoes, biscuits, avocados, a fruit salad of strawberries, papaya, peaches, and pineapple, and canned milk.
20:24.397 --> 20:40.099
[SPEAKER_03]: I imagine this meal was more extravagant than what Little Christine McGowan, on the night she was strangled by the man she enjoyed watching build boats, dreams of Halloween candy, dancing in her mind, before being awoken by the bogey man.
20:40.659 --> 20:46.928
[SPEAKER_03]: Homer Carroll had two visitors that day, a mitigation specialist and a Catholic priest,
20:46.908 --> 20:50.033
[SPEAKER_03]: No family members or friends visited him that day.
20:50.093 --> 21:04.056
[SPEAKER_03]: Only the family members of Christine watched him die from lethal injection, as he refused to look in their eyes, staring at the ceiling, in fear, or perhaps shame, as that poison entered a system.
21:04.036 --> 21:11.113
[SPEAKER_03]: He refused to give any last words, listener, and as consciousness slipped away, and his heart began to fail.
21:11.634 --> 21:20.475
[SPEAKER_03]: I hope Elmer Leon Carroll felt even an ounce of the fear, inflicted on the victims he left behind, both living and dead.
21:21.130 --> 21:26.678
[SPEAKER_00]: Raived in Strangled, a 10 year old, a pop girl was put to death tonight more than two decades after that heinous crime.
21:26.959 --> 21:28.802
[SPEAKER_00]: Wushed to Israel, I lend joins us now in Trevelle.
21:29.262 --> 21:31.105
[SPEAKER_00]: What war, Elmer Carol's last words?
21:31.446 --> 21:35.331
[SPEAKER_05]: I'll see you on one, an official at the state prison ask Carol if you wish to make a final statement.
21:35.512 --> 21:36.874
[SPEAKER_05]: He would reply with two words.
21:37.114 --> 21:37.695
[SPEAKER_05]: No, sir.
21:38.056 --> 21:46.328
[SPEAKER_05]: But the victim's mother issued this statement saying, thank you to all that have worked so hard for justice for all, namely Christine McGowan, rest in peace.
21:46.308 --> 21:51.333
[SPEAKER_05]: It's been 22 years since 10-year-old Christine McGowan was raped and killed inside of her apocca home.
21:51.773 --> 21:53.955
[SPEAKER_05]: On Wednesday, the man who did it was put to death.
21:54.355 --> 21:58.959
[SPEAKER_05]: Elmer Carroll was given lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Stark at 601 PM.
21:59.220 --> 22:00.901
[SPEAKER_05]: He was pronounced dead at 6.12.
22:01.322 --> 22:05.265
[SPEAKER_02]: With in four minutes, you can begin to see the process of death setting in.
22:05.846 --> 22:09.089
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a phase started turning white, but let's start it turning purple.
22:09.309 --> 22:11.771
[SPEAKER_05]: He had no friends or family members present.
22:11.791 --> 22:16.315
[SPEAKER_05]: Five of McGowan's family members were among those who watched him die.
22:16.295 --> 22:22.465
[SPEAKER_01]: And he looked straight at the sky, had tilted a little bit, didn't look at anybody, not even the team leader.
22:22.485 --> 22:27.874
[SPEAKER_05]: Carol was arrested in 1990, at the time he was living next door to the victim at the lighthouse mission.
22:28.054 --> 22:29.637
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a half-way house for homeless men.
22:29.938 --> 22:35.687
[SPEAKER_05]: The girl's stepfather found her strangled in her bedroom, traces of Carol's DNA were found on the victim's body.
22:35.667 --> 22:41.335
[SPEAKER_05]: Carroll's lawyer argued that he was too mentally ill to be executed, the U.S. Supreme Court denied his final appeal.
22:41.656 --> 22:51.029
[SPEAKER_05]: For his last meal, Carroll had two eggs, sunny side up, bacon, sliced tomatoes, biscuits, fruit salad, avocados, and a can of carnation cream milk.
22:51.049 --> 22:55.716
[SPEAKER_05]: Carroll had been locked up twice for indecent assault on a child before he killed McGowan.
22:55.916 --> 22:59.001
[SPEAKER_05]: The Orange Osteole County State Attorney Jeff Ashton prosecuted this case.
22:59.261 --> 23:00.763
[SPEAKER_05]: He was there for the execution tonight.
23:01.004 --> 23:03.447
[SPEAKER_05]: He says this marks completion for MCON.
