Execution looms for convicted killer Robert Waterhouse

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Robert Waterhouse, who was convicted of murdering a woman and throwing her body into Tampa Bay more than 30 years ago, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Feb. 15.

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Posted: 02/15/2012

MITCH STACY, Associated Press

STARKE, Fla. - A man convicted of raping a 29-year-old mother and dragging her into Tampa Bay's surf to drown more than three decades ago is scheduled to be executed Wednesday at Florida State Prison.

Twice-convicted murderer Robert Brian Waterhouse is set to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. He has been on death row for more than 31 years — longer than any inmate previously executed in Florida. Gov. Rick Scott signed his death warrant last month (see http://wfts.tv/wNIvd3 ).

Waterhouse, 65, was convicted in 1980 of murdering Deborah Kammerer of St. Petersburg, whose body was found in the tidal flats of Tampa Bay. She'd been beaten, raped and dragged into the bay, where she drowned.

Unable to identify her immediately, police turned to the public for help. Neighbors identified Kammerer's body, and an anonymous tipster led police to Waterhouse, who had served eight years in prison for a murder in New York state.

A bartender had seen Kammerer and Waterhouse leave a St. Petersburg bar together. Blood, hair and fibers in Waterhouse's car were linked to the victim. Waterhouse admitted having sex with Kammerer but denied killing her.

Then-Gov. Bob Graham signed a death warrant for Waterhouse in 1985, but his execution was delayed by an appeal that eventually got him a new sentencing hearing. That hearing in 1990 ended like the first, with a jury recommending execution by a 12-0 vote and a judge sentencing him to death.

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected arguments that Waterhouse should be spared because of testimony from a newly discovered witness and the destruction of physical evidence that made it impossible to perform DNA testing that could exonerate him. Justices concluded the new testimony was unreliable and wouldn't have been enough to acquit Waterhouse if he were to be retried (see http:// wfts.tv/ zkxRUY ).

Waterhouse had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for killing a 77-year-old Long Island woman during a 1966 burglary. He was sentenced to life but was paroled after eight years.