Execution set for Florida man convicted of rapes and murders
May 9, 2023, 3:19 PM
This booking photo provided by the Florida Department of Corrections shows Duane Owen. Owen, a man convicted of killing and sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another woman in separate South Florida attacks in 1984, is set to be executed in June 2023 under a death warrant signed Tuesday, May 9, 2023, by Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Florida Department of Corrections via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(Florida Department of Corrections via AP)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of killing and sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another woman in separate South Florida attacks in 1984 is set to be executed next month under a death warrant signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Duane Owen’s execution is set for June 15 at 6 p.m. It’s the fourth execution scheduled in Florida this year after a break dating back to 2019. Darryl B. Barwick was executed earlier this month.
The execution would be only the sixth under DeSantis, a far slower pace than recent Florida governors — and ahead of his widely expected presidential campaign.
According to court records, Owen broke into a Delray Beach home in March 1984 and attacked 14-year-old Karen Slattery, who was babysitting two young children. Owen repeatedly stabbed the girl and then sexually assaulted her, investigators said. The young children weren’t injured.
About two months later, Georgianna Worden, 38, was sleeping in her Boca Raton home when Owen broke in and fatally struck her in the head with a hammer multiple times before raping her, officials said.
Delray Beach and Boca Raton are both in Palm Beach County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Miami.
Owen is also accused of attacking two other women in their homes, but they survived.
