FORT MYERS, Fla. – Nearly three years after a judge in southwest Florida handed down a death sentence for a man convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl and her babysitter in 1990, the Supreme Court on Friday denied the killer’s appeal, sending him to death row.
Joseph Zieler, 61, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, and the jury recommended the death penalty with a 10-2 vote, which the judge imposed.
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Florida law had previously required a unanimous jury recommendation for a convicted murderer to face the death penalty. But a new law signed in 2023 by Gov. Ron DeSantis requires only an 8-4 vote in favor of execution.
The Florida Supreme Court’s affirmation of Zieler’s conviction is one of the first capital sentences under that new Florida death penalty law, according to Attorney General James Uthmeier.
Zieler was jailed on an unrelated assault charge in 2016 when his DNA was matched to the cold-case murders of Robin Cornell, 11, and Lisa Story, 32, authorities said.
“This depraved criminal managed to sleep at night for decades as he evaded justice for the rape and murder of a little girl and her babysitter,” Uthmeier said. “Due to the tireless work of Assistant Attorney General Christina Pacheco, and with support from the Solicitor General’s Office, we affirmed the ultimate form of punishment, and he will never see the outside of a prison cell again.”
The girl and the woman were found in a Cape Coral apartment in May 1990, officials said.
Robin’s mother had been out for the night watching a basketball game with her boyfriend and left the 11-year-old in the care of Story, who was her roommate, according to court documents obtained by Gulf Coast News Now.
Authorities said Robin’s mother discovered the sliding glass door open with the blinds blowing out the door when she returned the next morning, before finding the suffocated bodies in their rooms upstairs.
Investigators said both victims were sexually assaulted.
Cape Coral is about 100 miles south of Tampa.
For more details of the crime and how Zieler was identified, click here.
Zieler will await his execution in the Florida Department of Corrections.