A Florida man, Randy White, witnessed the execution of Kayle Bates on Tuesday, nearly 43 years after Bates abducted and killed White’s wife, Janet Renee White. The incident occurred in 1982 when Janet White was taken from her workplace at a State Farm insurance office in Bay County. She was assaulted and killed by Bates just minutes after her husband had last seen her.
Bates, aged 67 at the time of his death, was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison following a death warrant signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. This was the tenth execution carried out in Florida this year. Authorities found Bates covered in blood with Janet White’s wedding ring in his pocket shortly after the crime.
Randy White said he had been determined to see the case through since it happened. “I made a promise to her right after it happened that I would be there for every trial, every hearing, every appeal, and that as long as I was living, I would seek justice for her,” he told USA Today after the execution. White added: “I feel a relief that I can mentally let Renee know that justice has finally been served for her, and that’s mentally what I need. It’s always been for her.” He described the execution as “straightforward and quick.”
Court records state that Bates attacked Janet White but she attempted to defend herself before being overpowered and forced into nearby woods where she was stabbed to death. After losing his wife at age 27, Randy White recalled learning of her fate soon after saying goodbye at work: “He looked at me and said, ‘Mr. White, I don’t know any easy way to say this … but your wife’s been murdered.’ I completely lost it.”
Bates had faced multiple appeals filed by his attorneys with both the Florida Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court. Veterans groups also urged clemency due to Bates’ six-year service in the National Guard.
Florida uses a three-drug protocol—sedative, paralytic, and heart-stopping agent—for executions by lethal injection according to the Department of Corrections. The state has executed more people than any other this year; Texas and South Carolina follow with four executions each.
Bates declined to make a final statement or accept a last meal before his execution.
