TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Harold Gene Lucas was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison, 50 years after killing 16-year-old Jill Piper at her home in Bonita Springs.
Lucas, 74, waived his remaining appeals and elected not to contest his execution. He was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. by the state Department of Corrections.
According to court records, Lucas went to the home of 16-year-old Jill Piper on Aug. 13, 1976, after an altercation at a gas station with Piper and some friends. A week earlier Lucas had been arrested for criminal trespassing at Piper’s residence…