Oscar Ray Bolin
Oscar Ray Bolin, Jr. (January 22, 1962 – January 7, 2016)[1] was an American serial killer and convicted rapist who was executed in Florida for murder. In 1986, Bolin kidnapped and murdered three young women in Tampa, Florida. He was later connected to a fourth murder in Texas in 1987. The murders went unsolved for nearly four years, until the husband of his ex-wife called a tip line and implicated him. He maintained his innocence to the end.[2]
Oscar Bolin | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Oscar Ray Bolin, Jr. January 22, 1962 Portland, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | January 7, 2016 (aged 53) |
| Cause of death | Execution by lethal injection |
| Conviction(s) | First degree murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 4+ |
Span of crimes | 1986–1987 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Florida, Texas |
Early life
Bolin was born on January 22, 1962, in Portland, Indiana.[3] His family consisted of laborers and carnival workers who were spread across multiple states including Florida, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. His father used to beat him when he was a child and his mother once walked him to a school bus stop on a leash.[4]
Bolin frequently got into trouble with the law during his youth. In 1977, he committed theft in Ohio at the age of 15 and was arrested. He later moved to Florida in the early 1980s and began working as a carnival worker. In 1982, he abducted his girlfriend, Cheryl Haffner, and drove her around the Tampa Bay area for hours. He was arrested for false imprisonment, but the charge was later dropped. In 1983, he married Haffner in Hillsborough County.[4]
Murders
On January 25, 1986, 25-year-old Natalie Blanche Holley, a night manager at a Church's Fried Chicken restaurant in Tampa, finished work and locked up the store for the night with a colleague. She left the store around 1:30 a.m. and headed to her car. Her body was found hours later by a morning jogger. She had been stabbed to death.[5]
Months later on November 5, 1986, 17-year-old Stephanie Collins, a Chamberlain High School student, disappeared after finishing her shift at a drug store where she worked. One month later, on December 5, 1986, her body was found. She was found wrapped in sheets and towels and had been stabbed to death. Her skull was also crushed.
The same day Collins' body was found, 26-year-old Teri Lynn Matthews, a bank worker, went missing. Her car was found abandoned outside a post office with the engine still running. Her dead body was located later that day. She had been dumped in some woods and was wrapped in a white sheet. Her throat had been cut and her head had been bludgeoned.[6]
Investigation
A year later, Bolin was arrested in Ohio for kidnapping and raping a young woman. In 1987, Bolin and two other men kidnapped and raped a 20-year-old waitress in Toledo, Ohio. Afterwards, Bolin attempted to kill her with a gun, but when he pulled the trigger, the gun jammed. Instead of killing her, he let her go along a highway in Pennsylvania. Bolin was captured and was sentenced to 22 to 75 years in prison.[7]
In 1989, Haffner divorced Bolin and remarried. She told her new husband about the murders which Bolin had previously confessed to her. Haffner's new husband then called a tip line and implicated Bolin. More witnesses then came out to testify against him, including his younger half-brother and a cousin.[8]
Haffner testified that she had been with Bolin before he kidnapped Holley and had helped him dispose of some evidence. Bolin's half-brother testified that he watched Bolin beat Matthews and had tried to drown her with a garden hose. Bolin's cousin also told authorities that he and Bolin had abducted a 30-year-old woman, Deborah Diane Stowe, outside a convenience store in Greenville, Texas, back in 1987. He testified that Bolin had raped her and then killed her by strangling her to death. Texas prosecutors declined to seek an indictment in the case due to the fact Bolin was already charged with multiple murders in Florida.[9]
Bolin was found guilty and was sentenced to death in July 1991 for the murder of Holley. He was later sentenced to death again for the murder of Collins and received a third death sentence for the murder of Matthews.[4]
Execution
On the day before his execution Bolin was interviewed by WTVT. When talking about his upcoming execution, Bolin described it as a release from his punishment, having been locked up in prison for the past 28 years.[10]
Bolin was executed by lethal injection at 10:16 p.m. EST on January 7, 2016. He was the first person to be executed in the United States in 2016. His last meal consisted of a rib eye steak, a baked potato, salad, garlic bread, lemon meringue pie and Coca-Cola. He declined to make a final statement.[11]
See also
References
- "Inmate Release Information Detail – Inmate 519220". Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- "Oscar Ray Bolin: Convicted killer of 3 women executed after final appeal denied". The Christian Science Monitor. January 8, 2016.
- "Suspect has no remorse, some say". Tampa Bay Times. August 3, 1990.
- "Florida serial killer Oscar Ray Bolin Jr.'s date with death finally nears". Tampa Bay Times. December 26, 2015.
- "Death row serial killer swore he didn't murder three women before he was executed by lethal injection". Daily Mirror. February 28, 2016.
- "Oscar Ray Bolin Jr. executed after four-hour delay for final appeal". Tampa Bay Times. January 8, 2016.
- "Oscar Ray Bolin: Serial killer convicted of three murders executed after Supreme Court declines to intervene". The Independent. January 7, 2016.
- "Carnival worker convicted of killing 3 women executed in Florida". NY Daily News. January 8, 2016.
- "Convicted killer who married defense team member executed in Fla". CBS News. January 8, 2016.
- "Oscar Ray Bolin pre-execution interview". FOX 13 News - Tampa Bay. January 6, 2016.
- "Florida executes former carnival worker guilty of killing 3 women". Fox News. January 8, 2016.