Florida Man to be Executed in Girl’s Slaying

STARKE, Fla. (AP) _ A man who kidnapped and killed a 10-year-old Pinellas County girl more than 32-years ago is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection.

Barring any last minute stays, Larry Eugene Mann will begin carrying out his sentence at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Elisa Vera Nelson was last seen riding her bike to school. She had a note in her pocket explaining she was late because of a dentist appointment.

Mann kidnapped her, took her to an orange grove, cut her throat and then beat her head with a pole with a concrete base.

He then went home and tried to kill himself, telling the responding police officers he had “done something stupid.”

Then-Gov. Bob Graham signed Mann’s first death warrant in 1986, but appeals dragged out his case.