Death Row Inmate's Victim Opposes Execution She Fears Could Help DeSantis

A victim of "ninja killer" Louis Gaskin opposes the death row inmate's execution, set for Wednesday in Florida.

Noreen Rector, the ex-wife of a man shot by Gaskin on the same 1989 night that he killed a Palm Coast couple, said she is against Gaskin's execution by lethal injection, adding that she hopes the convicted killer's death does not aid Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' potential presidential bid. DeSantis signed Gaskin's death warrant last month.

"His signing this death warrant is not doing me any favor, it has only stirred up painful memories and has victimized me again," Rector told The Daytona Beach News-Journal. "In my mind, if Governor DeSantis was serious about law and order, he would be supporting gun control, not attacking the LGBT communities, banning books and rewriting history to make him and his followers feel good."

Newsweek has reached out via email to the office of DeSantis for comment.

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the 56-year-old killer's appeal and denied his request for a stay of execution. Gaskin was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1990 for killing Robert and Georgette Sturmfels in their Flagler County home. That same night, he attacked the Rectors and shot Noreen's then-husband Joseph. While both Rectors survived, Noreen Rector said she has had to cope with the lasting mental and emotional toll.

"I would be satisfied if Louis remained in prison, without the possibility of release. I don't believe the death penalty serves any purpose," she told the News-Journal. "What will really bother me is if this might, in some way, advance ... DeSantis in his presidential quest. I find him and his views highly offensive and divisive."

Gaskin provided disturbing details of his crimes in a statement to investigators, documents filed in Flagler County Circuit Court showed.

"It was like his wife got a little burst of energy from somewhere; proceeded to crawl out and shot her again," Gaskin said while recounting Georgette Sturmfels' death. "She still proceeded. She got into the hallway out of sight, so I went around to the other doors that faced the hallway. She was sitting there holding her head looking at the blood. I shot her again. She fell over."

DeSantis has signed three death warrants, including Gaskin's, this year. Convicted murderer Donald Dillbeck used his last words in February to blast DeSantis, saying: "I really messed up. But I know Ron DeSantis has done a lot worse."