Chadwick Willacy was sentenced to death by the State of Florida for the murder of Marlys Sather
According to court documents Chadwick Willacy would break into the home of Marlys Sather. When the woman discovered him inside of the home Willacy would tie the woman up, rob the home and proceeded to set it on fire
Chadwick Willacy would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Chadwick Willacy was executed on April 21 2026
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Chadwick Willacy Now
| DC Number: | 707742 |
|---|---|
| Name: | WILLACY, CHADWICK |
| Race: | BLACK |
| Sex: | MALE |
| Birth Date: | 09/23/1967 |
| Initial Receipt Date: | 12/13/1991 |
| Current Facility: | UNION C.I. |
| Current Custody: | MAXIMUM |
| Current Release Date: | DEATH SENTENCE |
Chadwick Willacy Case
Marlys Sather, the victim in this case, returned home from work around lunchtime unexpectedly and found Willacy, her next door neighbor, burglarizing her house. Willacy II, 696 So. 2d at 694; see also Willacy v. State (“Willacy III”), 967 So. 2d 131, 135 (Fla. 2007) (affirming the denial of postconviction relief). Willacy bludgeoned Sather, bound her ankles with wire and duct tape, and “choked and strangled her with a cord with a force so intense that a portion of her skull was dislodged.” Willacy III, 967 So. 2d at 135. Willacy obtained Sather’s car keys and ATM pin number and card, drove her car to her bank, and withdrew money out of her bank account. Id. He then drove back to Sather’s house, hid her car around the block, and made several trips from Sather’s house to her car with stolen items in tow. Id. After taking “a significant amount of property” from Sather’s house, Willacy drove the car to a nearby plaza, left it, and jogged back to Sather’s house. Id.
Willacy went back inside and, apparently to conceal evidence of his crimes, set Sather’s body on fire. He disabled the house’s smoke detectors, doused Sather with gasoline he found in the garage, placed a fan from Sather’s guest room at her feet to provide oxygen for the fire, and struck several matches to set her body ablaze. Id. According to the medical examiner’s testimony at trial, Sather was alive when Willacy set her body on fire; her death was caused by inhalation of smoke from her burning body. Id. The State also entered into evidence for the jury’s review several photographs law enforcement took of Sather’s body after the murder.
At trial, the State offered ample evidence that Willacy was the perpetrator of Sather’s murder. Witnesses reported seeing a man matching Willacy’s description near Sather’s house and driving her car on the day of the murder. Id. Investigators found Willacy’s fingerprints on several items at Sather’s house, including the fan at Sather’s feet and the gas can. Id. Willacy’s girlfriend contacted the police when she discovered a woman’s check register in Willacy’s wastebasket, and police identified the register as belonging to Sather. Id. When police obtained a search warrant on Willacy’s home, they recovered some of Sather’s property and several articles of clothing containing blood consistent with Sather’s blood type. Id.
Based on this evidence, the jury found Willacy guilty of first degree premeditated murder, burglary, robbery, and arson.3
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-11th-circuit/1867697.html
Chadwick Willacy Execution
A Florida man who set his neighbor on fire after she returned from work to find him burglarizing her home was executed Tuesday evening.
Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, received a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather. It was Florida’s fifth execution this year
The curtain to the death chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6 p.m. execution time, and the lethal injection began 2 minutes later after Willacy made a brief statement.
He apologized to his family and friends and urged his ”brothers on the row” to stay strong. He maintained his innocence, saying he would never kill his friend.
“To the victim’s family, I hope this brings you peace. If it does, that’s good, ” Willacy said. “But this is not right.”
Shortly after the lethal injection got underway, a warden shook Willacy and shouted his name, but there was no response. His skin began to turn gray, and a medic eventually entered the chamber to examine Willacy, declaring him dead.
Court records indicate Sather, 56, had returned to her Palm Bay home on a lunch break from work on Sept. 5, 1990, and discovered Chadwick Willacy burglarizing her home. He struck her in the head with a blunt object, fracturing her skull, and then bound her hands and ankles with wire and tape, according to investigators.
Chadwick Willacy attempted to strangle Sather with a phone cord, and when that didn’t work, he doused her in gasoline and set her on fire, the records show. An autopsy determined that Sather had died from smoke inhalation, indicating she was still alive when she was set on fire.
Chadwick Willacy also stole Sather’s car and other items from her home, and used the woman’s ATM card to steal cash, authorities said. When Sather failed to return from her break, her employer caller her family. Her son-in-law went to check on her and found her body.
Chadwick Willacy was sentenced to death a year later upon a 9-3 jury recommendation after being convicted of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and arson.
Then in 1994 the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing because the trial judge failed to allow defense attorneys a chance to rehabilitate a potential juror who indicated she could not recommend the death penalty. Willacy again drew the death penalty in 1995, following the 11-1 recommendation of a new jury.
Florida’s fifth execution of 2026 followed a record 19 executions in the state last year. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.
On Tuesday, Chadwick Willacy woke up at 5 a.m. and remained compliant as the execution hour approached, Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said earlier. The inmate received visits during the day from his mother, two sisters and a cousin, but did not meet with a spiritual adviser.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon denied Willacy’s final appeal without comment. Last week the Florida Supreme Court also denied his appeals. He had made claims based on the state’s refusal to grant public records requests about executions and lethal injection.
None of Sather’s relatives spoke at a news briefing after the execution, but the family released a statement thanking DeSantis and others.
“We have waited 36.5 years for justice for our mom. Our mother, Marlys Mae Sather should be remembered as a beautiful and loving daughter, wife, mother of 3, grandmother of 5, great grandmother of 5, aunt, cousin and friend,” it said in part. It noted the victim had lost her husband to cancer in July 1990, “just weeks before she was murdered.”
“She was a new widow trying to take one day at a time,” it said. “We miss her so much every day.”
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a long line of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.
Another execution is planned in Florida on April 30. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, is scheduled to received a lethal injection for his conviction in the fatal beating and choking of his 13-year-old niece.
Man executed in Florid after burglarizing neighbors home, setting her on fire
