Lanan Cole, who killed an 18-year-old college student in 1994 after raping her big sister over what appeared to be a pleasant camping weekend turned into a family’s worst nightmare, was put to death by Florida on Thursday. At 6:15 p.m., Cole, 57, was put to death by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, roughly 40 miles southwest of Jacksonville. It was the 13th execution nationwide and Florida’s first of the year.
In the Ocala National Forest, roughly 70 miles northwest of Orlando, Cole was found guilty of sexually assaulting his elder sister and killing Florida State University student John Edwards in 1994.
