Florida is set to carry out yet another execution this year after Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a death warrant for convicted murderer Frank Athen Walls, marking the latest in a record-shattering pace of capital punishment under the Republican governor.
Walls, 58, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on December 18 at Florida State Prison. If carried out, he would be the 19th person executed in Florida in 2025, surpassing the state’s previous annual record of eight executions in 2014. DeSantis has signed more death warrants this year than any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
The warrant comes just days before the scheduled execution of Richard Barry Randolph, and as another death-row inmate, Mark Allen Geralds, awaits execution on December 9.
Walls was first sentenced to death in 1988 for the brutal killings of Air Force airman Edward Alger and his girlfriend, Ann Peterson, during a 1987 home invasion in Florida’s Panhandle. Although the Florida Supreme Court overturned that conviction, Walls was retried, reconvicted, and again sentenced to death in 1992.
According to court testimony, Walls broke into the couple’s mobile home, tied them up, and fatally attacked them when Alger attempted to fight back—slashing his throat before shooting him, then shooting Peterson as she struggled. Walls was arrested the next day after a roommate alerted authorities to his suspicious behavior. Investigators found stolen items from the scene, and Walls later confessed.
Following his conviction, DNA evidence linked Walls to the rape and murder of 19-year-old Audrey Gygi earlier in 1987. He pleaded no contest to avoid an additional death sentence. Walls also admitted to killing two other women—Tommie Lou Whiddon in 1985 and Cynthia Sue Condra in 1986—as part of a deal with prosecutors.
His attorneys are expected to file appeals with both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nationwide, 43 executions have been carried out so far in 2025, with Florida leading the country amid DeSantis’s rapid signing of death warrants. The state most recently executed Bryan Frederick Jennings on November 13 for the rape and murder of his neighbor.
