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Rick Scott Signs Death Warrant Number Three -- Robert Waterhouse Is Next

Gov. Rick Scott signed the third death warrant of his governorship yesterday, this time calling for 65-year-old Robert Waterhouse to get the juice.All three death warrants signed by the governor have been for inmates over age 60.Waterhouse, who was arrested for the murder of a St. Petersburg woman on January...
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Gov. Rick Scott signed the third death warrant of his governorship yesterday, this time calling for 65-year-old Robert Waterhouse to get the juice.

All three death warrants signed by the governor have been for inmates over age 60.

Waterhouse, who was arrested for the murder of a St. Petersburg woman on January 9, 1980, was convicted and sentenced to death that September.

According to the Florida Commission on Capital Cases, a woman's nude body was found in the mud flats of Tampa Bay on January 3, 1980, with evidence that she'd been cut up, raped, and eventually drowned.

That woman was identified as 29-year-old Deborah Kammerer.

St. Petersburg police ended up going public for help solving the crime, and an anonymous caller phoned in and gave Waterhouse's license plate number and "suggested that they should investigate him," according to the commission.

Kammerer's neighbors told the cops they'd gone with her to a bar that night but left without her. The bartender there said Kammerer left with Waterhouse around 1 a.m.

On January 7, 1980, Waterhouse was asked to go to the police station for voluntary questioning, but meanwhile, the cops got a warrant to impound and search his car.

Waterhouse denied doing anything or even knowing Kammerer, but the blood and hair in his car said otherwise.

After being arrested for her murder, Waterhouse eventually admitted during an "interrogation" that he did know her, according to the commission.

According to the governor's letter to the Department of Corrections, Waterhouse's execution is scheduled for February 15.


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