The state of Florida on Thursday evening carried out the execution of Richard Barry Randolph for the 1988 murder of 62-year-old store clerk Minnie Ruth McCollum. Randolph, 63, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Raiford. Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach, Major Johnny Greenwood and agency attorney Alex Sharp were among those who witnessed the execution.
McCollum was killed on August 3, 1988, after arriving for her shift at the Handyway store at State Road 207 and McCormick Road in East Palatka. Investigators said she walked in on Randolph, a former employee, as he attempted to break into a safe. High on cocaine, he launched a prolonged and brutal attack that involved beating, choking, strangling and stabbing her. Throughout the assault, he repeatedly returned to the safe, leaving McCollum conscious and aware that he would resume the attack.
Randolph eventually abandoned his efforts to open the safe and fled with lottery tickets and McCollum’s car. Two customers approaching the store saw him lock the door while wearing a store apron and drive off. They called law enforcement, and deputies forced their way inside, finding McCollum gravely injured in a back room. She was taken to a hospital, where she remained for six days before dying from her injuries.
In a statement following the execution, Sheriff DeLoach said the brutality of the crime had never faded from the memory of investigators or the community. He noted that Randolph lived 35 years beyond the day McCollum’s life ended, and said he attended the execution on behalf of McCollum’s family, as well as the deputies and detectives who worked the case, many of whom are now retired or deceased.
“Mrs. McCollum’s life ended that day,” DeLoach said. “She spent her last moments reliving fear, pain, and the realization she was going to die. Today an evil life was finally extinguished way beyond his expiration date.”
The sheriff’s office said it hopes the completion of the sentence brings some measure of peace to McCollum’s family more than three decades after her death.
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