Loran Cole was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for kidnapping, sexual assault and murder
According to court documents Loran Cole and William Paul would attack a brother and sister who were camping. The brother would be tied to a tree and murdered and the sister would be sexually assaulted. Thankfully she would be able to escape before being killed
Loran Cole would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Where Is Loran Cole Now
Loran Cole is incarcerated at Union Correctional Institution
Loran Cole Case
On February 18, 1994, Pam Edwards, a senior at
Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, drove to
the Ocala National Forest, where she met her brother,
John Edwards, a freshman at Florida State University
in Tallahassee, Florida. The two planned on camping
in the forest for the weekend and eventually decided
to camp in Hopkins Prairie. They were setting up camp
when Loran Cole briefly stopped by their campsite.
Cole soon returned to the campsite, introduced himself
as “Kevin,” and helped them set up camp. After John
and Pam ate dinner, Cole and William Paul came to the
Edwards’ campsite. Paul was carrying a walking stick
and was introduced to the Edwards as Cole’s brother.
The four sat around the campfire, and at about 10:45
p.m., they decided to walk to a pond.
The four walked for a while but never found the pond.
Instead, Cole jumped on Pam and knocked her to the
ground. She got up and tried to run; however, Cole
caught her, hit her on the back of the head,
handcuffed her, and threw her down on the ground.
Meanwhile, John had taken Paul’s walking stick and was
hitting him with it. Cole then helped Paul subdue
John and moved John on the ground next to Pam. While
they lay close to each other on the ground, John
apologized to Pam for having exposed them to the
dangers of these two strangers. Cole told the Edwards
that he wanted to take their cars, and he went through
their pockets and took their personal property,
including their jewelry.
Paul took Pam up the trail, and he was complaining
about his hand and head, which were injured in the
altercation with John. Pam could hear Cole asking
John why he hurt Cole’s brother and could hear John
grunt a few times. Cole then came to where Pam and
Paul were sitting and told them that they were going
to wait until John passed out. Cole called back to
John several times, and John responded by moaning.
Eventually, Cole told Pam he was going to move John
off the trail and tie him up. Pam then heard
something that resembled a gagging sound. When Cole
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returned, he said that John must be having trouble
with his dinner, hinting that John was vomiting. John
died that night from a slashed throat and three blows
to the head, which fractured his skull. The injury to
the throat caused a loss of blood externally and
internally into John’s lungs.
Pam, Paul, and Cole then started walking back to
Cole’s campsite. On the way, they walked past John,
and he was not moving. At the campsite, Cole forced
Pam to sleep naked by threatening her that unless she
cooperated, she and John would be killed. Cole then
forced her to have sexual intercourse with him.
The next morning, Cole went to check on John and
told Pam that John was fine. Cole left the campsite
to purchase marijuana. When he returned, the three
smoked marijuana, and Cole again forced Pam to have
intercourse with him. After eating dinner, they
packed up as much of the camp as would fit into the
backpacks carried by Cole and Paul. Cole then gagged
Pam and tied her to two trees. Cole and Paul left in
Pam’s car and went to a friend’s trailer, where they
spent the night. The two left several items of John
Edwards’ personal property at the trailer.
Thereafter, Cole and Paul returned Pam’s car to the
Ocala National Forest and took John’s car, a Geo
Metro.
By the early morning on Sunday, Pam was able to
free herself of the ropes. She did not move because
she was afraid that if Cole and Paul returned and she
was not there, they would hurt John. She stayed in
that spot until daylight and tried to find John. When
she was unable to find him, she flagged down a
motorist, who took her to call the police. The police
returned with Pam to the scene, and the police located
John’s body. The body was face down and was covered
with pine needles, sand, debris, and small, freshly
cut palm fronds. Both of his hands were in an upward
fetal position; there was a shoestring ligature
around his left wrist and a shoestring partially
wrapped around his right wrist.
Police thereafter arrested Paul and Cole in Ocala
on Monday, February 21, 1994. Paul and Cole were
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indicted on charges of first-degree murder, two counts
of kidnapping (sic) with a weapon, and two counts of
robbery with a weapon. Cole was also indicted on two
counts of sexual battery. Paul pleaded nolo
contendere to the charges and was sentenced to life in
prison without possibility of parole for twenty-five
years on the murder charge and concurrent terms on the
remaining charges. After a jury trial, Loran Cole was found
guilty on all counts of the indictment. A
penalty-phase hearing was held, after which the jury
unanimously recommended death. Finding four
aggravators, [footnote omitted], no statutory
mitigators, and two nonstatutory mitigators, [footnote
omitted] the trial court followed the jury’s
recommendation and sentenced Cole to death.
https://supremecourt.flcourts.gov/content/download/343672/file/01-192_response.pdf
