Crime & Safety

Execution Set in Pinellas County Murder

One of Florida's longest-serving death row inmates may be executed on Wednesday for the kidnapping and murder of a Pinellas County girl in 1980.

Larry Eugene Mann is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the 1980 kidnapping and murder of a 10-year-old Pinellas County girl.

The Florida Supreme Court has rejected Mann's appeal for a stay of his execution by lethal injection, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Mann's legal team argued unsusccessfully that Mann, 59, had reformed in prison and was a role model among inmates.

Elisa Nelson was bicycling to school in November 1980 when she was kidnapped and murdered by Mann. Her body was found in an orange grove.

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She died from a skull fracture by a single blow from a cement-encased steel pipe found at the scene.

In an article that ran April 7, 2013, in the Tampa Bay Times, Elisa's murder was described as one of the most horrific crimes in Pinellas County history.

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Mann, who had prior arrests for sexual assault, was linked to the crime when his wife found a blood-stained letter from Elisa's mom that the child was carrying to her Palm Harbor school when she was kidnapped.

On the day Elisa was murdered Mann had tried to kill himself.

Mann has filed several previous appeals from the Florida State Prison since he was convicted on March 26, 1981.

Gov. Rick Scott signed his death warrant on March 1.

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