Breaking Now: Curtis Windom Executed In Florida August 28 | Death Row 2025 (US)
I’ve already lost my mom. I’ve already lost my grandma. This is This is my dad at the end of the day. A daughter whose father murdered her mother when she was just a baby did something that shocked the world. She gathered 5,000 signatures to save his life from execution. But here’s the twist that will leave you speechless.
She wasn’t the only victim’s family member fighting to spare him. The families of all three murder victims came together, united in forgiveness. Even Kenneth Williams, the man Curtis shot and left for dead, opposed the execution. Imagine that the very people who lost the most were begging the state to spare his life. This is the heartbreaking true story of Curtis Windham and his daughter Curtisia.
A story that will challenge everything you think you know about forgiveness, justice, and family. What happened on February 7th, 1992 destroyed multiple families forever. But what happened 33 years later might restore your faith in humanity. Stay with me because this story has twists you won’t see coming. It was a cold February morning in 1992.
26-year-old Curtis Windham was about to snap in the most violent way imaginable. It started with money. His acquaintance, Johnny Lee, had just won $114 at a Greyhound track. Despite owing Windom $2,000. When Curtis found out, something dark took hold of him. He looked at a friend and said something chilling.
You’re going to read about me. Those weren’t empty words. Curtis walked into a Walmart at 11:51 a.m. and bought a 38 caliber revolver and 50 rounds of ammunition. What happened next was a rampage that would haunt Orlando forever. First, he found Johnny Lee on the street and fired two shots through the car window into his back.
But Curtis wasn’t done. He got out, walked up to the wounded man, and fired two more shots at pointlank range. Johnny Lee was dead, but the nightmare was just beginning. Curtis drove straight to his on andoff girlfriend’s apartment. Valerie Davis, 25 years old and the mother of his infant daughter, Curtisia. The moment she opened the door, he shot her dead.
No words, no warning, just pure, senseless violence. Walking away from Valerie’s apartment, Curtis encountered Kenneth Williams on the street. a complete stranger with no connection to him whatsoever. Curtis shot him too, leaving him fighting for his life. But there was one more victim waiting. Mary Luben, Valerie’s 47-year-old mother, had just heard her daughter was shot.
She was racing to the apartment when Curtis spotted her car at a stop sign. He walked up to her window and fired twice. Another mother, another life stolen. In less than an hour, Curtis Windham had k!lled three people and nearly k!lled a fourth. Witnesses said he looked different during the shootings.
His eyes bugged out like he had completely clicked. When it was over, baby Cretia had lost her mother, her grandmother, and would grow up knowing her father was a k!ller. The trial was swift and brutal. Curtis pleaded not guilty, but the evidence was overwhelming. On August 28th, 1992, exactly 33 years to the day before his execution, the jury found him guilty on all counts.
Three death sentences, one for each life he took. But here’s what makes this case so tragic. Curtis’s lawyer was completely out of his depth. This was 1992 when Florida had no standards for death penalty attorneys. His defense was so inadequate that crucial evidence about Curtis’s mental health was never presented to the jury. The prosecution later admitted they were ready to reveal that Curtis was a drug dealer and that two of his victims were police informants, but his lawyer never fought for him properly.
For 33 years, Curtis would sit on death row knowing that his incompetent defense might have cost him his life. Now, here’s where this story takes an incredible turn. Baby Curtisia grew up without her mother, knowing her father was the one who k!lled her. Can you imagine carrying that burden? The trauma of losing your mother and knowing your own flesh and blood was responsible.
part 2 👇
But something remarkable happened over those 33 years. Curtisia didn’t let hatred consume her. She chose a different path. She began visiting her father in prison. She brought her own children, Curtis’s grandchildren, to meet the grandfather they’d never known outside prison walls. She had conversations with him that they’d never had before.
And then she did something that stunned everyone. She forgave him. Not only did she forgive him, she fought to save his life. In the weeks before his scheduled execution, Curtisia gathered over 5,000 signatures on a petition begging the governor to spare her father’s life. She stood before cameras and said something that will give you chills.
We’ve all been traumatized. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Life was not easy growing up. But if we could forgive him, I don’t see why people on the street who haven’t been through our pain have a right to say he should die. Think about that for a moment. The daughter of the woman he murdered was fighting to save his life.
But Curtisia wasn’t alone in her forgiveness. The families of all three victims came together not for revenge but for mercy. Mary Luben’s family, Johnny Lee’s family, even Kenneth Williams, who survived the shooting. They all opposed the execution. They released a joint statement that read, “33 years ago, Curtis Windham took the lives of our mother, grandmother, and dear family friend.
We have all lived our lives wearing a label that the state decided should define and divide us. We haven’t allowed that to happen. Most of all, we have continued to love and care for Curtis. We have forgiven him. A family united by tragedy, choosing love over hatred, forgiveness over revenge. But not everyone felt the same way. On August 28th, 2025, exactly 33 years after his conviction, Curtis Windham’s appeals ran out.
Governor Ronda Santis signed his death warrant. In his final weeks, Curtis spent time with Curtisia and his grandchildren. She said those last conversations were both heartbreaking and a blessing. They finally talked about things they’d never discussed before. For his last meal, Curtis chose comfort food. Ribs, baked beans, collard greens, potato salad, pie, ice cream, and a soda.
A final taste of the simple pleasures he’d be leaving behind. Outside the Florida State Prison, protesters gathered in the rain. Most were there to oppose the execution, holding signs and demanding mercy. But not everyone agreed. Kim Hunter, Valerie Davis’s sister, wore a t-shirt that read, “Justice for her, healing for me.
” She supported the execution, saying, “It took 33 years to get some closure.” Even within the same family, there were different views on whether Curtis deserved to die. At 6:02 p.m., the lethal injection began. Curtis had tried to say final words, but they were unintelligible to the witnesses. Whatever he wanted to say in those final moments remained his secret.
For about 6 minutes, his chest heaved and his legs twitched as the chemicals took effect. Then silence. At 6:17 p.m., Curtis Windham was pronounced dead. Florida’s 11th execution of 2025, a modern record. But the real story wasn’t in that sterile death chamber. It was in the hearts of the people who loved him despite everything he’ done.
After the execution, the victim’s families released another statement. We haven’t allowed the state to define and divide us. We remained a family united by love rather than divided by crime. They vowed to continue sharing their story, hoping to show others that forgiveness is possible, even in the darkest circumstances.
Cretia had lost her father twice now, once to his crimes 33 years ago, and again to the state’s justice system. But she never lost her capacity for love. This story forces us to ask difficult questions. Is forgiveness always possible? Can love triumph over the worst acts humans can commit? When the victim’s own families beg for mercy, should the state listen? There are no easy answers.
But there’s something profoundly moving about a daughter who could look at the man who k!lled her mother and choose love over hatred. Something beautiful about families who refuse to let violence divide them. Maybe that’s the real lesson here. that even in our darkest moments, we have a choice. We can choose to be defined by the worst things that happened to us, or we can choose something harder, but ultimately more powerful. We can choose to forgive.
Curtis Windham’s story ended in a Florida execution chamber. But Curtisia’s story, a story of extraordinary forgiveness and love, that story continues. What do you think? Could you forgive someone who took everything from you? Let me know in the comments below. And if this story moved you, please share it.
Sometimes the world needs to be reminded that love really can conquer hate. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.
