Kayle Barrington Bates is pictured in his military uniform.
Janet Renee White is pictured.
Kayle Bates is scheduled to be executed by the state of Florida on Aug. 19, 2025, marking the tenth execution of the year.
Janet Renee White and Randy White are pictured.
Janet Renee White and Randy White are pictured on their wedding day in 1974.

Florida is set to execute a death row inmate for the kidnapping and stabbing death of a young woman who was attacked at work more than four decades ago.

The execution of Kayle Barrington Bates by lethal injection for the 1982 murder of Janet Renee White will be the 10th this year in Florida, which is putting more inmates to death than any other state and repeatedly breaking its own annual record for executions. Bates' death also will mark the 29th execution in the U.S. this year so far, more than any other year since 2015.

Among the witnesses to Bates' execution on Tuesday, Aug. 19, will be White's still-grieving husband, Randy White. He told USA TODAY that justice has been delayed far too long for his wife of eight years, who went by Renee.

"This has just been hanging out there for 43 years," said White, who was worried that either he or Bates would die before the execution. "At least this part I can put behind me and not think of it again. I can be done with it."

Meanwhile veterans groups have been arguing for a reprieve for Bates, a former Florida National Guardsman who also was a husband and a father of a 3-year-old daughter at the time of the murder. If the execution moves forward, Bates will become the fourth veteran executed in Florida this year after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed their death warrants.

“We can never be a veteran friendly state when our leader is signing off on their deaths at the hands of the State," according to a letter signed by 130 veterans and sent to DeSantis. "We urge you now to lead from a place of bravery, to return to the honor code from your service, and to stop setting the executions of our fellow soldiers.”

DeSantis has said he's signing death warrants for the worst of the worst and that he wants to bring closure to victim families.

Here's what you need to know about Bates' execution, including his chances for a reprieve.

When will Kayle Barrington Bates be executed?

Bates, 67, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Aug. 19 at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, about 40 miles southwest of Jacksonville.

What was Kayle Barrington Bates convicted of?

On Monday, June 14, 1982, Randy and Renee White were back at their workplaces after a romantic weekend trip.

At lunchtime, they met back at their Lynn Haven home, where she watched her favorite soap opera and he made her a sandwich. When it was time to return to work, Randy wanted to make sure Renee got back safely to the State Farm insurance office where she worked, so he followed her in his car and watched her walk in.

But a man had broken into the back of the office and was waiting for her.

As Renee walked in, the phone was ringing. She answered and was about to say "Hello" when Kyle Barrington Bates popped out, according to court records. Renee let out a "bone-chilling scream," and Bates cut the phone cord, court records say. The woman who had been calling the office immediately called police.

"Bates attacked her, but Renee fought back," according to court records. "Despite her best efforts, Bates overpowered Renee and forced her into the woods behind the office."

Bates "brutally beat" Renee, strangled her, stabbed her twice in the chest, and "attempted to rape her," according to court records, though Randy disagrees with the terminology regarding the sexual assault. Bates admitted to "engaging in one-sided sexual conduct" with Renee and "both his and Renee's underwear contained evidence of semen," court records say.

Within about 15 minutes of waving goodbye to Renee, Randy got a call that there was an emergency at her office. Soon after, a sheriff's chaplain broke the news.

"He looked at me and said, 'Mr. White, I don't know any easy way to say this ... but your wife's been murdered,'" Randy remembered. "I completely lost it ... You’re not prepared for life to just stop that abruptly."

Police arrived within minutes of the attack and said they found Bates covered in blood, with Renee's wedding ring in his pocket. Bates was convicted of murder and and sentenced to death.

Can Kayle Barrington Bates still win a reprieve?

Both time and appeals are running out for Bates, who has always maintained that he didn't kill Renee.

Bates' attorneys have fought unsuccessfully for DNA testing in the case and lost various arguments before the Florida Supreme Court and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month.

Most recently his attorneys petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution in filings that raise a number of claims, including that the execution is unconstitutional because Florida tends to conduct more executions for crimes in which the victim was white and has shown "a bias toward executing Black individuals."

In response, the Florida Attorney General's Office said that of 21 execution warrants signed by DeSantis while in office, 19% have been for Black inmates and 26% of the victims involved were non-white. "These statistics totally rebut any claim of racial discrimination in the Governor’s warrant selections," prosecutors wrote.

James Driscoll Jr., one of Bates' attorneys, described him as "a man of faith" who has been relying on his religion.

He said that Bates turned to Islam in prison around 1993, became "dedicated to studying the Quran," has been "a mentor and calming presence for some of the younger guys" on death row, and has reconnected with his daughter, who is now in her 40s.

"The man has exhibited a quiet dignity throughout all of these proceedings that is inspirational," Driscoll told USA TODAY just after visiting with Bates likely for the last time on Monday.

"If the state of Florida takes Mr. Bates life, it will be a tragic miscarriage of justice," he continued. "Regardless of what happens, Mr. Bates is at peace."

Who is witnessing the execution?

Among the witnesses will be Renee's husband of eight years, Randy White. In a two-hour interview, he told USA TODAY how the couple met in a pizza parlor as teenagers and married 10 weeks later.

"She walks in the door, and I mean the second she walked in, I can still remember what I said. 'Who the heck is that young lady?'" Randy recalled. "She was absolutely gorgeous."

Later, Randy learned that when Renee got home the night they met, she told her mother: "I have met the man of my dreams."

"We were completely crazy about each other," Randy said. "Like flipped upside-down crazy."

Eight years after the wedding, the Whites were living like they were still on their honeymoon, traveling often and spontaneously. In 1982, when he was 27 and she was 24, they decided it was time to have a baby, Randy said. "She wanted children really, really bad."

A month later she was murdered. And though Randy remarried and has been with his second wife for over three decades, he never became a father.

"After she was killed, that part of me went away," he said. "It destroyed me."

Now Randy is mentally preparing to witness Bates' execution, which he said is much too long in coming, so many years after Renee's murder.

Only two of Renee's four siblings are still living to see the day, he said.

"There's been so many deaths in her family, and I thought I would pass and never see justice," he said. "It's going to be different to start life new again without this in the forefront ... But I’ll never get past it. I will fight that until my last breath."

When is the next execution?

There are 10 more executions scheduled this year, with the next one in Florida on Aug. 28, when Curtis Windom is set to be executed by lethal injection in the 1992 murders of his girlfriend, her mother and his best friend.

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at amanda.myers@usatoday.com and follow her on X at @AmandaLeeUSAT

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Your wife's been murdered': Florida man looks for justice 43 years after unspeakable loss

Reporting by Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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