“Sorry to the Family”: Chilling Last Words of Florida’s Oldest Death Row Inmate Before Execution for Brutal Wife Murder Revealed
A 74-year-old Florida man was executed on Thursday for the 1992 fatal stabbing of his wife, becoming the oldest inmate in the state’s modern history to be put to death.
Dusty Ray Spencer was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m. after receiving a three-drug lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke.
When asked if he had any final words, Spencer said, “Sorry, sorry to the family. Into thy hands I commit my spirit and my soul. I’m on my way, Lord. I’m on my way. Amen.”
He breathed heavily for several minutes before all movement ceased.
The prison warden then shook Spencer and repeatedly called his name but received no response. A medical official examined him and pronounced him dead.
Spencer was convicted in November 1992 of the first-degree murder of his wife, Karen Spencer. Her family did not issue a statement following the execution.
According to Florida Department of Corrections records dating back to 1924, the previous oldest inmates executed by the state were both 72 years old: Samuel Lee Smithers, executed on Oct. 14, 2025, for the 1996 murders of two women, and R. Charlie Gifford, executed on Feb. 21, 1951, for the 1950 fatal shooting of state Rep. Charles Schuh Jr.
Another 74-year-old Florida death row inmate, Dennis Sochor, is scheduled to be executed on July 14 for the 1982 murder of a woman he met at a New Year’s Eve party before killing her shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day.
The oldest person executed in modern U.S. history was Walter Leroy Moody Jr., who was 83 when he was put to death in Alabama in 2018 for mailing bombs that killed a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney during a wave of terror across the South.
Spencer’s execution was the ninth carried out in Florida this year.
Florida executed 19 people in 2025, setting a state record for the highest number of executions in a single year.
Before 2025, Florida’s highest annual execution total since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 was eight, recorded in both 1984 and 2014.
Florida also carried out more executions than any other state last year. Alabama, Texas and South Carolina each recorded five executions, tying for second place. Nationwide, 47 people were executed in 2025.
Spencer was first arrested in December 1991 after choking his wife, Karen, and threatening to kill her.
While in jail, he called her and warned that he would finish what he had started once he was released.
On Jan. 18, 1992, Spencer struck his wife’s teenage son with a clothes iron after the teenager tried to stop him from attacking his mother, according to authorities.
About a week later, the boy went outside after hearing a disturbance and saw Spencer repeatedly striking his mother in the head with a brick.
The teenager attempted to shoot Spencer with a rifle, but the weapon misfired. Spencer then threatened him with a knife, forcing the boy to flee in search of help.
When police arrived, Karen Spencer was found dead with multiple stab wounds to the chest.
Spencer was originally sentenced to death in 1992 after being convicted of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery.
Two years later, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing, ruling that the trial court had improperly weighed aggravating and mitigating factors.
He was sentenced to death again the following year, and all subsequent appeals were denied.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Spencer’s latest appeals. Earlier on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court also denied his final appeal.
