Gerald Eugene Stano

Gerald Eugene Stano before execution

Gerald Stano said nothing to the guards as they escorted him down the path to the death chamber.   As the guards strapped him in the chair, Raymond Neal waited anxiously behind the witness viewing window, approximately three feet away from the man who murdered his sister.

"I said, 'Die you monster. Yes!'" Neal later told reporters from the Associated Press.    "The power slammed into him and he jerked as much as he could and that was it.  I saw the life going out of his hands.  I felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted off my back.  Afterward, me and my brothers smoked cigars to celebrate.
"I can't express the feeling," he said.  "I felt so much better.  I'm so glad Florida has the guts to keep the electric chair.  At least there was a split second of pain.  With lethal injection, you just go to sleep."

In the end, Gerald Stano had confessed to the murders of 41 women.  While many of his confessions never made it to court and several of the victims have yet to be identified, most police officials consider the cases closed.