Elmer Carroll was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of 10-year-old Christine McGowan on October 30, 1990.
Robert Rank attempted to wake his stepdaughter, Christine McGowan, on the morning of October 30, 1990 and, when she did not answer his calls, Rank went to McGowan’s room. He noticed her door, which was open the night before, was closed. Upon entering the room, Rank discovered McGowan face down on the bed.
She had blood between her legs and her body was cold to the touch.
Rank then noticed that the front door was slightly open and his construction truck was missing. Police investigators at the scene determined that McGowan had been raped and strangled to death, and issued a bulletin regarding the stolen construction truck.
After hearing a radio bulletin regarding the stolen construction truck, Debbie Hyatt notified police that she remembered seeing the abandoned truck and a man, later identified as Elmer Carroll, walking away from the truck. As a result of Hyatt’s tip, Carroll was arrested. When law enforcement officers searched Carroll for weapons, they found a box cutter and the keys to the stolen construction truck.
Information presented at trial revealed that Carroll was a resident of the halfway house located next door to the victim’s home and that Carroll had remarked to other residents about the “cute” girl next door. DNA evidence recovered from the scene matched Carroll.
Source: Florida Commission on Capital Cases
Robert Rank attempted to wake his stepdaughter, Christine McGowan, on the morning of October 30, 1990 and, when she did not answer his calls, Rank went to McGowan’s room. He noticed her door, which was open the night before, was closed. Upon entering the room, Rank discovered McGowan face down on the bed.
She had blood between her legs and her body was cold to the touch.
Rank then noticed that the front door was slightly open and his construction truck was missing. Police investigators at the scene determined that McGowan had been raped and strangled to death, and issued a bulletin regarding the stolen construction truck.
After hearing a radio bulletin regarding the stolen construction truck, Debbie Hyatt notified police that she remembered seeing the abandoned truck and a man, later identified as Elmer Carroll, walking away from the truck. As a result of Hyatt’s tip, Carroll was arrested. When law enforcement officers searched Carroll for weapons, they found a box cutter and the keys to the stolen construction truck.
Information presented at trial revealed that Carroll was a resident of the halfway house located next door to the victim’s home and that Carroll had remarked to other residents about the “cute” girl next door. DNA evidence recovered from the scene matched Carroll.
Update
Elmer Carroll was executed on May 29, 2013, by lethal injection. He was on death row for 21 years before being executed.Source: Florida Commission on Capital Cases