JUST IN: Florida has Executed Serial k!ller Ronald Palmer Heath After 35 Years | Florida Death Row
On February 10th, 2026, at exactly 6:12 p.m., a 64 year old man took his last breath inside Florida State Prison. His final words, “I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. Thank you.” But those three simple sentences couldn’t begin to capture the trail of bodies he left behind. three victims, 49 years of violence, and a pattern so disturbing that even after 35 years on death row, the families of his victims still couldn’t find peace.
This is the story of Ronald Palmer Heath, a k!ller who was given a second chance at life and used it to destroy even more families. Stay with me because what you’re about to hear will show you exactly why some people say the death penalty exists. What’s up, everyone? Welcome back to the channel. If you’re new here, I cover true crime cases that most people haven’t heard about, diving deep into the details that other channels skip.
Now, let me ask you something. If someone commits murder at 16, serves just 10 years in prison, and then gets released back into society, should they get a second chance? Most people would say yes. Rehabilitation over punishment, right? Well, keep that question in mind as we go through this story because Ronald Heath got that second chance and 2 days after his release, he picked up right where he left off.
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Let’s start at the beginning. Ronald Palmer Heath was just 16 years old when he committed his first murder. The victim was Michael Lee Green, an 18-year-old young man who made the fatal mistake of crossing paths with Heath that December night. This was a 16-year-old committing a murder so violent, so prolonged, so devoid of mercy that it would haunt seasoned homicide detectives.
The level of rage, the extended nature of the attack, the complete absence of empathy. These are all major red flags. But here’s where the system failed everyone. Heath pleaded guilty to seconddegree murder. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Sounds reasonable, right? Except he didn’t serve 30 years. He didn’t even serve half of that.
After just 10 and a half years behind bars, Ronald Palmer Heath walked out of prison a free man sometime in 1987 or 1988. And the moment he tasted freedom, the clock started ticking on his next victims. Just over a year after his release, Ronald Heath found himself at a bar called the Purple Porpus Lounge in Gainesville. He wasn’t alone.
His younger brother, Kenneth, was with him. The brothers were approached by a friendly stranger named Michael Sheridan. Sheridan was 30 years old, a traveling salesman from Atlanta who was just passing through town. By all accounts, he was a good guy, the kind of person who’d buy drinks for strangers and strike up conversations at the bar.
That kindness would cost him his life. Sheridan bought the Heath brothers drinks. They chatted. Sheridan casually asked if they used marijuana. It was probably just bar talk, small talk. Maybe he was looking to relax after a long day on the road. But to Ronald Heath, this was an opportunity. Heath suggested to his brother that they rob Sheridan. Just like that.
A man buys you drinks, shows you kindness, and you decide to rob him. Kenneth agreed. Ronald offered to drive to a place where they could smoke marijuana together. Sheridan, trusting and unsuspecting, got into the car. Heath drove them to an isolated area in Elatchua County, south of Gainesville. Remote, dark, no witnesses.
What happened next was captured in court testimony and police reports, and it’s absolutely chilling. Kenneth pulled out a handgun and pointed it at Sheridan. The salesman initially refused to hand over his belongings. Maybe he thought they were bluffing. Maybe he was just trying to maintain some dignity.
So Kenneth shot him in the chest. As Sheridan, now wounded and bleeding, began emptying his pockets to comply with their demands. Ronald Heath started kicking him. Then he pulled out a hunting knife and began stabbing the wounded man. But Ronald wasn’t satisfied. He attempted to slit Sheridan’s throat, but the knife was too dull.
So instead, he sawed at the man’s neck. When that proved too difficult, he turned to his younger brother and gave him a direct order. Finish him off. Kenneth Heath fired two bullets into Michael Sheridan’s brain, k!lling him. The brothers then dumped Sheridan’s body in the woods where it wouldn’t be discovered for 6 days. They returned to steal items from his rental car and burned the vehicle to destroy evidence.
The exact same thing Ronald had done with Michael Green’s car 12 years earlier. The next day, as Michael Sheridan’s family in Atlanta wondered why he hadn’t checked in as his body lay decomposing in the Florida woods, Ronald and Kenneth Heath went on a shopping spree at the Oaks Mall in Gainesville. They used Sheridan’s stolen credit cards to buy clothes and other items, walking around the mall without a care in the world.
But here’s the thing about credit card fraud. It leaves a trail. And that trail would eventually lead police right to Ronald Heath’s door. You’d think that murdering someone would be enough to satisfy whatever dark urge drove Ronald Heath. You’d think wrong. Just 2 days after k!lling Michael Sheridan, the Heath brothers were back at it.
They met a 25-year-old man named Anthony Hammet at a bar in the Arlington area of Jacksonville. Hammet was about to get married. His wedding was scheduled for just 2 days later. He was a father to a 15-month-old son. His whole life was ahead of him. The brothers drove Hammet to another location. When Hammet realized what was happening and tried to run away, they shot him in the back and left his body in a dumpster.
Two murders in 3 days. And Ronald Heath had only been out of prison for about a year. Think about that timeline. December 1977. Murders Michael Green at 16. serves 10 years, gets released around 1987 to 888. May 24th, 1989, murders Michael Sheridan. May 26th, 1989, murders Anthony Hammet. This wasn’t rehabilitation. This was a predator who’d been temporarily caged and then released back into the wild.
Several weeks after Sheridan’s murder, investigators made the connection between the stolen credit cards and Ronald Heath. They tracked him down to his home in Douglas, Georgia. When police arrested him, they found clothing that had been purchased with Sheridan’s credit cards. They found Sheridan’s watch. The evidence was overwhelming.
Kenneth Heath, the younger brother, decided to cooperate with prosecutors. He testified against Ronald in exchange for a plea deal. Life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. In 1990, Ronald Heath went to trial for the murder of Michael Sheridan. The prosecution laid out their case.
Ronald was the dominant brother, the orchestrator, the one who’d already k!lled before and manipulated his younger sibling into joining him on this murderous spree. The jury heard about the Purple Porpus Lounge. They heard about the drive to the isolated area. They heard the gruesome details of how Sheridan was shot, stabbed, kicked, and executed.
They heard about the shopping spree. And they heard about Michael Green. The 18-year-old Heath had tortured and k!lled when he was just 16, proving this wasn’t a one-time mistake, but a pattern of extreme violence. Heath was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and 16 forgery related charges. The jury recommended the death penalty by a vote of 10-2.
The judge agreed and sentenced Ronald Palmer Heath to death. But what about Anthony Hammet, the third victim? Heath was indicted for that murder, too. But here’s where things get complicated. Kenneth Heath, who had agreed to testify against his brother, suddenly changed his mind. He claimed his life had been threatened and refused to take the stand for the Hammet case.
Without Kenneth’s testimony, prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence. The charges were dropped. Anthony Hammet’s family would never see justice for their loved one. His son would grow up knowing his father’s k!ller walked away from that murder. From 1990 to 2026, Ronald Heath sat on death row at Florida State Prison. That’s 35 years.
35 years of appeals, of legal motions, of waiting. For comparison, Michael Sheridan’s family spent those same 35 years without their brother, their son. Michael Green’s family spent 49 years, almost half a century, living with the loss of an 18-year-old boy who never got to experience life. Anthony Hammet’s son grew up without a father, and his fiance never got to walk down the aisle.
The death penalty debate is controversial and I’m not here to tell you what to think about it, but I am going to tell you what the families of these victims experienced. Sheridan’s sister said she’d been waiting for this day for 35 years. Green’s sister attended the execution to witness justice for her brother’s murder that happened when she was just a child.
Hammet’s sister came too, even though her brother’s murder charges were dropped because she needed to see the man who destroyed her family face consequences. More than a dozen family members in total attended the execution. That’s how many lives Ronald Heath destroyed. On February 10th, 2026, Ronald Heath woke up at 5:07 a.m.
on his last day alive. He knew exactly what was coming. At 64 years old, he’d spent more than half his life waiting for this moment. He had two visitors that day, his mother and a friend. Can you imagine being his mother, watching your son commit murder after murder, knowing he threw away not one but two chances at life, and still loving him enough to be there on his final day? Heath refused a last meal.
In many states, death row inmates are offered a special meal of their choosing before execution, a final small comfort before the end. Heath declined. He also refused to meet with a spiritual adviser. At 6:00 p.m., the curtain to the execution chamber went up. Heath was already strapped to the gurnie, an IV line inserted into his arm.
In the witness room, more than a dozen people watched. victim’s family members who had waited decades for this moment. Reporters documenting the execution and official witnesses. The warden asked Heath if he had any final words. Heath’s response was brief. I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. Thank you. Three sentences.
After 49 years of violence, after three murders, after destroying multiple families, that’s what he had to say. The drugs began flowing through the IV. Heath showed little outward reaction. His eyes closed. He appeared to fall asleep, then became motionless. About 8 minutes later, a medic entered the chamber to check his vital signs.
At 6:12 p.m., Ronald Palmer Heath was pronounced dead. This case represents Florida’s first execution of 2026. It came after a record-breaking 2025 when Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw 19 executions, the most by any Florida governor in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. But beyond the statistics, beyond the political debates about capital punishment, there’s a deeper question this case forces us to confront.
Can people change? When Ronald Heath pleaded guilty to murdering Michael Green at 16, the system believed in rehabilitation. They gave him 30 years but let him out after 10. The idea was that he was young. He could be reformed. He deserved a chance to become a productive member of society. Within a year of his release, he’d k!lled two more people.
Some crimes show a pattern so clear, so consistent that it’s impossible to ignore. Heath’s three murders spread across 12 years all showed the same characteristics. Extreme violence, extended torture, complete lack of empathy, and calculated attempts to destroy evidence. At 29, he shot, stabbed, and executed Michael Sheridan in the woods.
Days later, he shot Anthony Hammet in the back as he tried to run away. This wasn’t someone who made one terrible mistake. This was a predator who k!lled whenever the opportunity presented itself. The victim’s families who attended the execution didn’t look happy afterward. They didn’t celebrate. One family member described it as closure, not joy, not satisfaction, just closure.
The ability to finally close a chapter that had been open for 35 years. Michael Green’s sister waited 49 years. Think about that. She was a child when her 18-year-old brother was murdered. She attended the execution as a woman in her 60s. Half a century of carrying that loss. So, what do we take away from the story of Ronald Palmer Heath? I think it’s this.
The justice system tries to balance punishment with rehabilitation, but some people prove through their actions that they can’t be rehabilitated. Some people are given second chances and use them to create more victims. Heath had every opportunity. He could have left prison after those 10 years and lived a quiet, law-abiding life. He could have felt remorse for what he did to Michael Green and dedicated himself to being better.
Instead, he went right back to k!lling. The families of his victims will never get their loved ones back. Michael Sheridan will never make another sales call. Michael Green never got to grow beyond 18 years old. Anthony Hammet never walked his fiance down the aisle and never watched his son grow up. And Ronald Heath, he spent 35 years waiting to die, which is its own form of torture.
Whether you believe in the death penalty or not, there’s no denying that he made choices, conscious, deliberate choices that led him to that execution chamber. His final words were, “I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. Thank you.” Too little. Too late. But at least the families of his victims can finally close this chapter.
That’s all for today’s video. This was a heavy one. I know. If you made it this far, drop a comment below and let me know your thoughts. Do you think the death penalty was appropriate in this case? Should Heath have gotten a second chance after the first murder? And if you want more deep dive true crime content like this, make sure you’re subscribed with notifications turned on.
I’ve got some intense cases coming up that you won’t want to miss. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one. Stay safe out
