JUST IN: Victor Tony Jones Execution | Crime, Last Meal + Final Words | Death Row US Florida
On September 30th, 2025 after spending nearly 35 years on death row, Victor Tony Jones was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Stark, Florida. He was 64 years old. In this video, we will talk about what happened, his last words, and his last meal. But to uncover the events of that fateful day and why Victor ended up being executed, we have to go back to a December morning in 1990 and a workplace that would become a crime scene after just 2 days of employment.
December 19th, 1990, a Wednesday morning in Miami Dade County, Florida. Victor Tony Jones arrived for his second day of work at Nester Engineering Company, a small business owned by an elderly couple, Jacob and Matilda Nester. It was only his second day on the job. He had been hired just 48 hours earlier to help with maintenance and odd jobs around the facility. The Neestors were kind people.
World War II generation, hard workers who had built their business from nothing. Jacob was a brilliant inventor who held dozens of patents for medical devices. Matilda was his secretary, his partner, his right hand. They trusted Victor. They had given him a chance, offered him work, welcomed him into their business.
But Victor Tony Jones had other plans. That morning, armed with a knife, Victor would attack both of his elderly employers in their own workplace. He would stab Matilda Neestor in the back of the neck as she walked toward the bathroom. He would stab Jacob Neestor in the chest when he came to investigate. And even though Jacob, a 67year-old war veteran, would fight back and shoot Victor in the head, both of the nesters would die that day.
Victor would rob them as they lay dying, taking their wallets, their money, their belongings. And when police arrived, they would find Victor locked inside the building, slumped on a couch, covered in blood, the stolen property in his pockets, and a confession on his lips. To understand how Victor Tony Jones became a murderer, we have to go back to his childhood and a place that would shape the rest of his life in the darkest possible way.
Victor was born in 1961 in Florida. Very little is known about his early childhood, but what we do know is that as a teenager, Victor was sent to the Okichchobee School for Boys, a state-run reform school in Florida. On paper, the Okichchobee School was supposed to reform troubled youth to give them structure, discipline, and a second chance.
But in reality, it was a house of horrors. For decades, the Okichchobee School for Boys along with its sister institution, the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys were sites of systemic abuse, neglect, torture, and even death. Boys were beaten. They were starved. They were locked in isolation for days. They were sexually abused by staff members.
Some boys disappeared entirely, their bodies later found buried in unmarked graves on the school grounds. More than 50 children were eventually discovered in those graves, their deaths never properly investigated, their families never notified. Victor Tony Jones was one of those boys. He was sent to Oki Chobee as a teenager, and what happened to him there would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Decades later in 2024, the Florida legislature would formally acknowledge the horrors of the Okichchobee and Doia schools. They passed a compensation program apologizing for what they called a unique and shameful chapter in the history of this state. They set aside $20 million to compensate survivors of the abuse.
And on January 6th, 2025, the Florida Attorney General’s office formally recognized Victor Tony Jones as a victim of abuse at Oki Chobee. In July 2025, the state deposited compensation money into Victor’s prison account, acknowledging that he had been tortured and abused as a child in their care. But just 53 days later, on August 29th, 2025, Florida Governor Ronda Santis signed Victor’s death warrant.
The same state that had just compensated Victor for the abuse he suffered as a child was now preparing to execute him. Critics would call it hypocrisy. Supporters would say justice demanded it. But the contradiction was undeniable. Florida was about to execute a man it had formerly recognized as a victim of state sponsored child abuse.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. To understand how Victor ended up on death row, we have to go back to December 19th, 1990 and the Neestor Engineering Company. Jacob Jack Neestor was 67 years old in 1990. He was a World War II veteran who had served in the US Army in Europe for 5 years, returning home in 1946. After the war, Jacob became an inventor and sculptor.
He was brilliant, creative, and hardworking. Over the course of his life, Jacob held at least two dozen patents for medical devices. He invented a device to transplant leg arteries. He created a tool to chisel the middle bone of a nose for reconstructive surgery. He designed a special knife for hair transplants.
He even developed a prosthetic for male impetence. Jacob’s inventions were used by plastic surgeons and doctors throughout Florida. He made medical tools that saved lives and improved the quality of life for countless patients. But Jacob wasn’t just an inventor. He was also an accomplished sculptor. His works were displayed in Miami’s federal building and other locations throughout the city.
During World War II, Jacob had been inspired by the Cyine Chapel and that inspiration fueled his artistic passion for the rest of his life. People who knew Jacob described him as a man with a megawatt smile, a sharp sense of humor, and a constant stream of jokes. He was sarcastic, witty, and full of life.
He loved his work, loved his family, and loved his wife. Matilda Dolly Neestor was 66 years old in 1990. She was part Italian, a matriarch who had worked as Jacob’s secretary and right-hand partner in their business for decades. Dolly and Jacob had been high school sweethearts. They had built a life together, raised two children together, and worked side by side every single day.
Dolly was known for her pasta sauce, a recipe that her granddaughter would continue to make decades later in her memory. She loved going to hair salons and the theater. She was warm, loving, and devoted to her family. Jacob and Dolly had two children, four grandchildren, and a life filled with love, laughter, and hard work.
They had built Neestor Engineering Company together. And even in their 60s, they were still working every day, still creating, still inventing, still contributing. They were good people. They were kind people. And they trusted the wrong man. Victor Tony Jones was hired to work at Neestor Engineering Company in mid December 1990. The Neestors needed help with odd jobs, maintenance work, and general labor around the facility.
Victor seemed like a reasonable hire. He needed work. The neestors needed help. It seemed like a mutually beneficial arrangement. December 18th, 1990 was Victor’s first day on the job. Everything seemed fine. He showed up. He did the work he was asked to do, and he left without incident. December 19th, 1990 was his second day.
It would also be his last, and it would be the last day of Jacob and Matilda Netor’s lives. That morning, Victor arrived at Neestor Engineering Company armed with a knife. Whether he had brought the knife from home or found it at the workplace, we don’t know. What we do know is that Victor had made a decision.
He was going to rob the Neestors, and if they got in his way, he was going to kill them. The attack began sometime in the late morning. Matilda Dolly Neestor was walking toward the bathroom in the rear of the building. She had no idea Victor was behind her. She had no idea he had a knife. She had no reason to be afraid.
Victor was an employee. He was supposed to be working. But as Dolly walked down the hallway, Victor came up behind her. Without warning, without hesitation, he raised the knife and plunged it into the back of her neck. The blade severed her aorta, one of the largest and most critical blood vessels in the human body. The wound was catastrophic.
Dolly collapsed. Blood poured from the wound, pooling on the floor beneath her. She tried to crawl, tried to move, tried to survive, but the damage was too severe. Dolly made it to the bathroom where she collapsed and died. She was 66 years old. She had been walking to the bathroom in her own workplace when she was murdered by a man she had trusted, a man she had hired, a man she had given a chance.
Jacob Jack Neestor was in the main office when he heard the commotion. Maybe he heard Dolly cry out. Maybe he heard the sound of her body hitting the floor. Maybe he just sensed something was wrong. Whatever the reason, Jacob came from the main office toward the bathroom to investigate. And when he turned the corner, he saw Victor standing there covered in blood holding a knife.
Jacob realized immediately what had happened. His wife was dead or dying. and Victor was going to kill him, too. Victor lunged at Jacob with the knife. Jacob tried to fight back, tried to defend himself, but he was 67 years old, and Victor was much younger and stronger. Victor plunged the knife into Jacob’s chest.
The blade punctured Jacob’s heart. It was a fatal wound. Any doctor would have told you that Jacob Neestor was a dead man the moment that knife entered his chest. But Jacob didn’t die immediately. Despite the fatal wound, despite the blood pouring from his chest, Jacob Neestor, the World War II veteran, the inventor, the sculptor, the husband, the father, refused to give up.
He retreated to an office, stumbling, bleeding, dying with every step. And then with blood soaking through his shirt, Jacob reached down and pulled the knife out of his own chest. Jacob knew he was dying. But he wasn’t going down without a fight. He attempted to call for help, reaching for the phone, trying to dial, trying to get someone, anyone to come save him.
But his hands were slick with blood. His vision was fading. His strength was leaving him. He couldn’t complete the call. So, Jacob did the only thing he could do. He retrieved his 22 caliber automatic pistol from a holster he kept in the office. Jacob raised the gun, his hands shaking, his vision blurring, and he fired once, twice, three times, four times, five times.
Five shots rang out in the small office and one of those bullets struck Victor Tony Jones in the forehead. The bullet hit Victor right between the eyes, but it wasn’t a fatal shot. The bullet didn’t penetrate deeply enough to kill him. It lodged in his skull, causing a non-lethal head wound. Victor staggered, blood pouring from his forehead, but he was still alive, still conscious, still dangerous. Jacob Neestor collapsed.
The effort of pulling the knife from his chest, of retrieving the gun, of firing five shots had drained the last of his strength. He fell to the floor, his heart failing, his body shutting down. And as he lay there dying, Victor Tony Jones stood over him. Even though Jacob was dying, even though he had just been shot in the head, Victor wasn’t done.
He rolled Jacob’s body over so he could remove property from his pockets. He took Jacob’s wallet. He took his money. He took his keys. He took his cigarette lighter. He took a small change purse. And then Victor went back to where Dolly’s body lay in the bathroom. And he robbed her, too.
He took her wallet, her money, her belongings. Jacob and Matilda Neestor were dead or dying. and Victor Tony Jones was looting their bodies like a scavenger picking over a battlefield. After the robbery was complete, Victor staggered to the main office. He was losing blood from the gunshot wound to his forehead. He was disoriented. He was in pain.
He slumped onto a couch near Jacob’s body covered in blood. The stolen wallets in his pants pockets, the gun protruding from under his arm. and that’s where he stayed, locked inside the building, waiting for someone to find him. Around noon, a UPS driver arrived at Neestor Engineering Company to make a delivery. When no one answered the door, the driver looked through the mail slot.
What he saw made his blood run cold. Through the narrow opening, he could see what appeared to be a foot or a shoe, and next to it, a large amount of blood. The UPS driver immediately knew something was terribly wrong. He asked a neighbor for help and called emergency services. Police arrived within minutes.
They knocked on the door. No answer. They knocked again, louder this time. Still no answer. The door was locked from the inside. Police made the decision to knock down the door. They breached the entrance and stepped inside. Guns drawn, not knowing what they would find. The scene that greeted them was a nightmare.
Blood was everywhere. In the hallway, in the bathroom, in the office. Matilda Dolly Nester’s body was in the bathroom. A single stab wound to the back of her neck. Blood pulled beneath her. Jacob Jack Nester’s body was in the office, a stab wound to his chest, the knife on the floor next to him, five spent shell casings scattered around the room.
And slumped on the couch in the main office covered in blood with a bullet wound in his forehead was Victor Tony Jones. Police immediately secured the scene. They checked both victims for signs of life. There were none. Jacob and Matilda Neestor were dead. Officers approached Victor carefully.
He was conscious but barely responsive. Blood covered his face, his clothes, his hands. The gun, Jacob’s 22 caliber automatic pistol was protruding from under Victor’s arm. Police secured the weapon and searched Victor. In his pants pockets, they found the netor’s wallets. In his front pockets, they found money and other belongings taken from the victims.
The evidence was overwhelming. Victor Tony Jones had murdered Jacob and Matilda Neestor, robbed them, and then collapsed at the scene. Police arrested Victor and transported him to the hospital for treatment of his gunshot wound. In the police car, Victor made his first statement. “The old man shot me,” he said, complaining that his head hurt.
Officers attempted to question him further, but Victor refused to comment. At the hospital, doctors treated the gunshot wound to Victor’s forehead. The bullet had lodged in his skull, but hadn’t penetrated the brain. Victor would survive. And as doctors worked on him, Victor made a statement to a nurse that would seal his fate.
“I killed those people,” he said. “They owed me money and I had to kill them.” Victor Tony Jones was charged with two counts of firstdegree murder, two counts of armed robbery, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The last charge revealed that Victor had a prior criminal record, that he had been convicted of a felony before, that this wasn’t his first brush with the law.
Victor’s trial began in 1993 in Miami Dade County. The evidence against him was overwhelming. The netor’s wallets were found in his pockets. The murder weapon, the knife, had his fingerprints on it. He had been found at the scene, locked inside the building, covered in the victim’s blood. He had confessed to a nurse at the hospital, and the forensic evidence told a clear story.
Matilda Neestor had been stabbed in the back of the neck, her aorta severed. Jacob Neestor had been stabbed in the chest, his heart punctured. Both had been robbed. The prosecution argued that Victor had murdered the nesters in cold blood during a robbery. They pointed out that this was only his second day on the job, that the Nesters had trusted him, that they had given him an opportunity and he had repaid their kindness with murder.
Prosecutors even mocked Victor during the trial, telling the jury that he had squandered the opportunities Florida had given him at the reform school, referring to the Okichchobee School for Boys as if it had been a place of rehabilitation rather than a place of torture. The defense tried to argue that Victor had not planned to kill anyone, that the murders had occurred during a confrontation that escalated out of control, that Victor had been under the influence of drugs at the time.
Court records indicate that drugs played a significant factor in the crime. The defense also suggested that Victor had attacked the nesters because Dolly had declined to pay him for work he hadn’t finished. that this was a crime born out of frustration and addiction rather than premeditation. But the jury didn’t buy it.
The evidence was too strong. The brutality of the crime was too clear. Victor had stabbed a 66-year-old woman in the back of the neck. He had stabbed a 67year-old man in the chest. He had robbed them both as they lay dying. And he had confessed. On the verdict, the jury found Victor Tony Jones guilty on all counts, two counts of firstdegree murder, two counts of armed robbery, one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The penalty phase of the trial began immediately. During the penalty phase, the prosecution argued that Victor deserved the death penalty because he had committed a heinous, atrocious, and cruel crime. He had murdered two elderly people in their own workplace. He had robbed them as they died. He had shown no remorse.
The defense argued for mercy. They pointed to Victor’s difficult childhood, though they did not present evidence about the abuse at Oki Chobee. They argued that Victor deserved a life sentence rather than death. The jury deliberated. For the murder of Matilda Neestor, the jury voted 10-2 in favor of the death penalty.
For the murder of Jacob Neestor, the jury voted 12 to0 in favor of the death penalty. The judge agreed with the jury’s recommendation. Victor Tony Jones was sentenced to death by electrocution, though the method would later be changed to lethal injection when Florida updated its execution protocol. Victor was also sentenced to life in prison for the armed robberies.
He was taken to Florida State Prison in Stark to await his execution. For the next 35 years, Victor would sit on death row, filing appeal after appeal, trying to overturn his conviction, trying to save his life, but every appeal was denied. The Florida Supreme Court upheld his conviction.
The federal courts refused to intervene. Victor’s attorneys argued that the jury should have heard about the abuse he suffered at Okichchobee, that it was mitigating evidence that could have changed the outcome of his sentencing. But the courts disagreed, ruling that the issue was procedurally barred because Victor had not raised it during his original trial or in earlier appeals.
In 2024, something extraordinary happened. The Florida legislature passed a compensation program for survivors of abuse at the Okichchobee and Dosia schools. They formally apologized for the horrors that had occurred at those institutions and set aside $20 million to compensate the survivors. On January 6th, 2025, the Florida Attorney General’s office formally recognized Victor Tony Jones as a victim of abuse at Oki Chobee.
In July 2025, the state deposited compensation money into Victor’s prison account, acknowledging that he had been tortured and abused as a child in state care. And then just 53 days later on August 29th, 2025, Governor Ronda Santis signed Victor’s death warrant. The execution was scheduled for September 30th, 2025. The contradiction was stark and undeniable.
Florida was about to execute a man it had just compensated for being a victim of state sponsored child abuse. Critics were outraged. The Florida Catholic Conference sent a letter to Governor Dantis asking him to commute Victor’s sentence to life without parole. Executive Director Michael Sheidi wrote, “It cannot be that with one hand the state pays out compensation to men abused and tortured as children in its care, while at the same time with its other hand puts one of these victims to death.
” Fidians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty delivered nearly 5,000 petition signatures to Governor Dantis on the day of the execution, begging him to spare Victor’s life. In September 2025, Victor’s attorneys filed a 36page petition with newly discovered evidence about the abuse he had suffered at Oki Chobee.
They argued that this evidence should have been presented to the jury during his trial, that it was powerful mitigating evidence that could have changed the outcome. But the Florida Supreme Court denied the petition in a 5:1 vote, ruling that the evidence was procedurally barred. The court wrote, “The alleged abuse occurred nearly 50 years ago and roughly 15 years before his trial.
Yet Jones did not raise it at trial or in any prior postconviction proceeding. Victor’s attorneys appealed to the US Supreme Court. Hours before the scheduled execution, the Supreme Court rejected the final appeal without comment. There would be no last minute stay, no reprieve, no mercy. Victor Tony Jones would die on September 30th, 2025.
September 30th, 2025. Victor Tony Jones’s final day on Earth. Victor woke up at 4:30 a.m. He spent the day meeting with his spiritual adviser. He had no other visitors. For his last meal, Victor requested fried chicken, collarded greens, and sweet tea. A simple southern meal that reminded him of home.
He ate quietly, knowing that in just a few hours he would be dead. At 6wager p.m., the curtain to the viewing room opened promptly. Witnesses began gathering. Among them was Irene Fischer, the daughter of Jacob and Matilda Neestor. Irene had waited 35 years for this moment. She had lost her parents when she was in her 30s, and now in her 60s, she was finally going to see their killer held accountable.
Also present were members of the media, prison officials, and representatives from the Florida Department of Corrections. Outside the prison, about 60 protesters had gathered in a field across from death row. They held a mass praying for Victor, praying for the nesters, praying for an end to the death penalty. At 6 p.m.
, the protesters formed a line and took turns hitting a bell with a hammer, shouting, “It’s not in my name.” A declaration that they did not support the execution being carried out in their name. As citizens of Florida, Reverend Philip Gitto of Our Lady of Lords Catholic Church led the protest. Nearby, a counterprotester named Bill Campbell played upbeat music, disagreeing with the protesters supporting the execution.
Inside the execution chamber, Victor Tony Jones was strapped to a gurnie, his arms extended, IV lines inserted into his veins. At 6 p.m., the warden asked Victor if he had any final words. Victor turned his head slightly and said, “No, sir. Those were the last words Victor Tony Jones would ever speak.
At 6:02 p.m., just 2 minutes after the curtains opened, the drugs began flowing into Victor’s veins. Florida used a three drug protocol for executions. The first drug was a seditive designed to render Victor unconscious. The second drug was a paralytic that would stop his breathing. The third drug was potassium chloride, which would stop his heart.
The warden shook Victor and shouted his name minutes into the injection. There was no response. Victor’s face lost color as he lay motionless on the gurnie. His breathing slowed, then stopped. His heart ceased beating. At 6:13 p.m., just 11 minutes after the drugs began flowing, Victor Tony Jones was pronounced dead. Officials said the execution had been carried out without complications.
The witness curtain was closed. The execution was over. Victor Tony Jones, who had spent 35 years on death row, who had been recognized by the state of Florida as a victim of child abuse, who had murdered two elderly people on his second day of work, was dead at the age of 64. After the execution, Irene Fischer, the daughter of Jacob and Matilda Neestor, spoke to reporters.
I wish my parents had that opportunity to die so gracefully. Close your eyes and just go. She said, I am very happy on one end that it is over. And I am sad also that someone else had to lose their life. Justice was finally served. Irene said she forgave Victor, but she believed the execution was necessary. Her parents had been brutally murdered, stabbed to death in their own workplace by a man they had trusted.
And now, 35 years later, that man had finally been held accountable. The protesters outside the prison disagreed. They believed that executing Victor, a man who had been tortured and abused as a child in state custody, was wrong. They believed that Florida’s decision to compensate Victor for the abuse and then execute him 53 days later was hypocritical and morally indefensible.
But Irene Fischer and the victim’s families had a different perspective. They believed that what happened to Victor as a child, as terrible as it was, did not excuse what he had done to Jacob and Matilda Neestor. They believed that Victor had made a choice on December 19th, 1990 to murder two innocent people.
And they believed he deserved to die for that choice. The case of Victor Tony Jones raises difficult questions that have no easy answers. Can someone who was tortured and abused as a child be held fully responsible for their actions as an adult? Does childhood trauma excuse or explain violent crime? Should a state that formally acknowledges it, abused a child be allowed to execute that child once they become an adult? These are questions philosophers, legal scholars, and ethicists continue to debate.
What is clear is that Jacob and Matilda Neestor should still be alive. They were good people who had worked hard their entire lives, who had built a business, who had raised a family, who had contributed to their community. They gave Victor a chance, offered him work, trusted him, and he murdered them in cold blood on his second day on the job.
At least nine men who were confined at the Dozier or Okichchobee schools have been executed by the state of Florida. Dozens more ended up on death row. The abuse those boys suffered did not end when they left the schools. It followed them for the rest of their lives, shaping who they became, influencing the choices they made, leading many of them down a path that ended in prison or on death row or in the execution chamber.
Victor Tony Jones spent 35 years on death row. During that time, his attorneys argued that he deserved mercy, that his childhood abuse should be considered, that executing him was wrong. But the courts disagreed. They said Victor had had decades to raise the issue of his abuse and had failed to do so. They said the evidence was procedurally barred.
They said justice demanded that Victor be executed for his crimes. Whether that was the right decision is something history will judge. What we know is that on September 30th, 2025 at 6:13 p.m., Victor Tony Jones’s life ended. The family of Jacob and Matilda Neestor, who had waited 35 years, finally saw the man who murdered their loved ones, held accountable.
Irene Fischer said she felt peace. The protesters outside the prison said they felt sorrow. And the state of Florida, which had abused Victor as a child and compensated him as an adult, executed him 53 days after depositing money into his prison account. The case of Victor Tony Jones is now closed.
A man who was tortured as a child in a state-run reform school. A man who became a murderer, stabbing two elderly people to death on his second day of work. A man who spent 35 years on death row. A man who was recognized as a victim of state abuse and compensated just weeks before his execution. A last meal of fried chicken, collarded greens, and sweet tea. Final words of no, sir.
And finally, on a Monday evening in September 2025, a needle in the arm and a heart that stopped beating. Justice, such as it is, was served. Victor Tony Jones was the 13th person executed in Florida in 2025, setting a modern era state record. Florida led the nation in executions that year, and the debate over whether executing victims of childhood abuse is justice or vengeance continues.
