STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man who killed a 10-year-old girl he snatched off her bike on her way to school has been executed in Florida.
Authorities said 59-year-old Larry Eugene Mann was pronounced dead at 7:19 p.m. Wednesday following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.
Mann kidnapped Elisa Vera Nelson on Nov. 4, 1980, as she headed to school in a Tampa suburb following a dental appointment.
Mann took the girl to an orange grove, cut her throat and beat her head with a pole. Mann then went home and tried to kill himself by slashing his wrist, telling the responding police officers he had “done something stupid.”
Days later, Mann’s wife found a bloodied note that Elisa’s mother had written to explain why she was late for school.
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