FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has set an execution date for a 65-year-old man who sexually battered and killed his next-door neighbor in 1998.

Norman Mearle Grim Jr. was convicted in the death of Cynthia Campbell. She was reported missing, and her body was later found off the Pensacola Bay Bridge by a fisherman.

Grim is set to die by lethal injection on Oct. 28.

Prosecutors said Campbell suffered multiple blunt-force injuries to her face and head that were consistent with being struck by a hammer, as well has 11 stab wounds in the chest. An autopsy revealed seven of the stab wounds penetrated her heart.

Physical evidence including DNA tied Grim to her death, and he was convicted of sexual battery and first-degree murder in December 2000.

Florida leads the natio

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