Marlys Mae Sather’s murderer has been executed after 36 years of waiting, but he made a final apology before his death. Chadwick Scott Willacy spent 36 years on death row after he was convicted of the murder of his neighbor, Marlys Sather.
Willacy received a three-drug lethal injection for the murder of Sather. Willacy was found guilty of first-degree murder, burglary, robbery and arson after breaking into Sather’s home and burning her alive.
The convict was 24 years old at the time and spent 36 years on death row in Starke, Florida. According to USA Today, Sather enjoyed a joyful memory with her loved ones before she passed. Speaking to Marlys Sather’s son, the publication reported that it was Sather’s son Jon’s 32nd birthday. The family met at John’s Orlando-area home. After the celebrations ended, Sather drove back to her house in Palm Bay.
John Sather revealed his mother’s final words to him. “I said, ‘I love you, Mom. And she said, ‘I love you too, John,” the grieving son said. “Those were the last words I said to my mom.” As Marlys came back from work during her lunch break, she found that her neighbor, Willacy, had broken into her house.
Chadwick Willacy, 24 at the time, tried to choke Sather to death using a telephone cable. When that didn’t work, he doused Sather in gasoline and set her on fire. Autopsy reports revealed that the 56-year-old mother died of smoke inhalation and was alive at the time of being burned alive. Willacy has always denied killing Sather and even asked for a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the stay was declined and Willacy was finally executed on April 21.
The state of Florida executed 58-year-old Chadwick Willacy at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday for the 1990 murder of his then-56-year-old next-door neighbor Marlys Sather, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. https://t.co/tkFf0npid1
— The Alligator (@TheAlligator) April 22, 2026
John Sather was present at the execution. “I want to make sure that I see the warden say he’s deceased,” Marlys Sather’s son said. “I want to make sure Mom gets justice for somebody coming in and stealing her life in a couple of heartbeats.” In his last moments, Chadwick Willacy apologized to his friends and family and “urged his brothers on the row to stay strong.” That said, he also made a thinly veiled apology to the Sather family moments before his passing.
NEW: The U.S. Supreme Court will not stop Florida from killing Chadwick Willacy today. There were no noted dissents.
It would be Florida’s fifth execution of the year, and the eighth nationwide in 2026. pic.twitter.com/EBOFhPrgBI
— Chris “Law Dork” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) April 21, 2026
“To the victim’s family, I hope this brings you peace,” Willacy said. “If it does, that’s good. But this is not right.” Willacy’s execution marks Florida’s fifth execution this year. The previous execution was that of Michael Lee King, who had r-ped and murdered a young mother in Florida. The next execution is set to be of James Ernest Hitchcock, who will receive the death penalty later next month.
