Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed the death warrant for a 30-year-old kidnapping and murder case involving a brother and sister. Loran Kenstley Cole, 57, has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of the murder of 18-year-old FSU student John Edwards in 1994. Cole was also found guilty of the kidnapping and rape of the FSU student's 21-year-old sister on the very same night in Ocala National Forest.
Enclosed is the death warrant that Governor DeSantis signed to carry out the sentence for Loran Kenstley Cole, as well as certified copies of his judgment and sentence. The governor has set the date and time of execution for Thursday, August 29 at 6:00 p.m.
The upcoming execution will be the first in Florida since last August when Governor DeSantis signed the death warrant of Michael Duane Zack, 54, for murdering two women in 1996. Florida administers executions through lethal injection, with those sentenced generally dying from pulmonary edema.
