STARKE, Fla. (AP) – Glen Rogers, a 62-year-old suspected serial killer with ties to notable murders in the 1990s, was executed in Florida on Thursday for the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs. The execution took place at Florida State Prison near Starke, where Rogers was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. He received a lethal injection after being convicted for Cribbs's death, a 34-year-old mother of two who Rogers had met in a bar.
Rogers was also sentenced to death in California for the strangulation murder of Sandra Gallagher, another victim he encountered at a bar, shortly before he killed Cribbs. Law enforcement apprehended him following a highway chase in Kentucky while he was driving Cribbs’s vehicle shortly after her murder.
In his final statements, Rogers expressed gratitude to his wife for visiting him earlier that day. He made a curious remark about future answers to questions, while also voicing support for former President Donald Trump, stating, “keep making America great. I’m ready to go.” Once the lethal injection commenced, Rogers remained unusually still throughout the process, which lasted only 16 minutes, showing minimal movement and ultimately requiring staff to check his consciousness by shaking his shoulders.
Despite being a prime suspect in multiple unsolved slayings across the United States, Rogers had not been convicted of these other murders. At one point, he claimed to have killed approximately 70 people, but later retracted this assertion. His story garnered media attention through various documentaries, including the 2012 film titled “My Brother the Serial Killer,” which featured commentary from his brother and others familiar with his case.
Moreover, the documentary reignited discussions around the infamous murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, which occurred in 1994. While Rogers was initially believed to possibly connect to these cases, the Los Angeles Police Department later dismissed these speculations, emphasizing their confidence in having identified the actual killers.
Following a highly publicized murder trial, former football star O.J. Simpson was acquitted of all criminal charges related to the deaths. However, he was later deemed liable for the murders in a civil case and served time in prison on unrelated charges. Simpson, who died in April 2024, faced his own battles, including a cancer diagnosis.
Rogers, originally from Hamilton, Ohio, was given several monikers in the press, such as “Casanova Killer” and “Cross Country Killer,” due to the similarities among many of his alleged victims—most being women in their 30s, with petite frames and red hair.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied Rogers's final appeal just a day prior to his execution. His legal representatives had previously argued that recent legislative changes recognizing childhood abuse as a valid reason for receiving a life sentence should have mitigated his death sentence; however, this contention was also rejected by the courts.
Florida executed Rogers as the fifth inmate in the state this year. The next death row inmate scheduled for execution is Anthony Wainwright, set for June 10, 2024, under a death warrant issued by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Wainwright, aged 54, was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering a woman he abducted from a supermarket parking lot in Lake City in 1994.
