|
 Officials say Happ was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke. He was executed by injection.
He had been convicted of the 1986 murder of 21-year-old Angie Crowley. She moved to South Florida from Oregon, Ill., just five months before her murder.
She was traveling to visit a friend in north Florida when she stopped in Crystal River to use a pay phone at a convenience store. Happ just happened to be there. He smashed the window to the car and kidnapped Crowley. He raped her then strangled her with her stretch pants and threw her body in a canal.
___
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
AP's earlier story is below.
___
It's been more than 27 years since William Happ strangled Angie Crowley and 24 years since he was sentenced to death. He's scheduled to receive his sentence Tuesday evening: death by chemical injection at Florida State Prison.
Happ was calm Tuesday when he met with two spiritual advisers, including a Roman Catholic priest who administered last rites, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jessica Cary.
For his last meal, Happ had a 12-ounce box of assorted chocolates and 1 1/2 quarts of German chocolate ice cream.
Crowley's mother and two siblings died before they could see the sentence carried out, but Crowley's surviving sisters and brothers said they would be in Starke, Fla., to watch as Happ is executed.
"Once this is over, we don't have to worry about legal aspects of it again. We can sit back and enjoy the memories and that's sort of what we're all looking forward to," said Crowley's brother Chris, who is making the trip from Missouri for the execution.
Angie Crowley had moved to Florida from Oregon, Ill., just five months before her 1986 murder. The 21-year-old was working as a travel agent in the Fort Lauderdale area and planned to make the 300-mile drive to visit a college friend in Yankeetown. Crowley was prone to getting lost, so her friend told her to drive to a convenience store in Crystal River and call her from a pay phone in the parking lot and she'd met her and guide here the last few miles.
[to top of second column] |
 Crowley found the store, but she never made it to the phone. Happ just happened to be there, too. He smashed the window to the car and kidnapped Crowley and took her to a canal where he gave her 10 to 20 severe blows to the head. He raped her, then strangled her with her stretch pants and threw her body in the water.
Happ left for California, where he was arrested on unrelated charges. A detective flew from Florida to get one of his sneakers and later matched it to a shoe print at the scene of the killing.
At the time, Happ was a high school dropout living with his aunt. He did odd jobs, laid bricks and did some landscaping. He was also abusing alcohol and drugs.
Crowley was a beautiful, smart, popular woman who was pursuing her dream to travel the world. Her murder shocked Oregon, a town of about 3,500 about 25 miles southwest of Rockford, Ill. She was an honor student, cheerleader and musician.
She just happened to pull into the parking lot at the wrong time.
"They just intersected -- and the odds," Chris Crowley said. "Those are lottery odds."
The randomness of the crime has left questions in Crowley's mind.
"The only thing I would like to know is why, and I don't expect to find out. I don't expect him to say anything," Crowley said. "I have a lot of hatred for the man. A lot of hatred."
After Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed Happ's death warrant, Happ told a judge he did not want any lawyers filing appeals for him, making the chance of a last minute stay in the execution unlikely.
[Associated
Press; By BRENDAN FARRINGTON]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
