TAMPA, Fla. - Hillsborough County killer Samuel Smithers is about to face the final punishment. The so-called "Deacon of Death" is slated to be executed on October 14.

A jury unanimously sentenced him to death for killing two women he had picked up in Tampa.

The backstory:

The investigation kicked off on May 28, 1996, when a friend found Smithers cleaning an axe near a pool of blood in a home owned by the friend.

Although he said it was blood from a small animal, police would determine that – over the course of sixteen days – Smithers had dragged two women into a pond.

"The investigation was incredibly thorough," said current Hillsborough County State Attorney Susie Lopez, who was not involved in the original prosecution of the case. "There are hundreds and hundreds of photograp

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