'She knew he was going to kill her': Florida killer to be executed 37 years after murder

Florida is set to execute a death row inmate for the "brutal and prolonged" rape and murder of a beloved convenience store manager who interrupted him during a robbery nearly 40 years ago.

Richard Barry Randolph, 63, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, Nov. 20, for the 1988 murder of Minnie Ruth McCollum in the small Florida town of East Palatka. If the execution moves forward as expected, Randolph will become the 17th inmate executed in Florida this year − a record − and the 44th in the U.S., a number that hasn't been seen since 2010.

Retired prosecutor John Tanner, who tried Randolph back in 1989, told USA TODAY that the case stands out among the many he handled because of the prolonged brutality experienced by McCollum.

"She knew he was going to kill her," Tanner said this week. "He was totally off the rails and so vicious, there was no humanity left in him."

Here's what you need to know about the execution.

When and where is Richard Barry Randolph's execution

Richard Barry Randolph is set to be executed at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Florida State Prison in Raiford.

What was Richard Barry Randolph convicted of?

On Aug. 15, 1988, 27-year-old Richard Barry Randolph went to break into the safe at the Handy Way convenience where he used to work in East Palatka, Florida, about 40 miles east of Gainesville. But his former coworker, 62-year-old Minnie Ruth McCollum, walked in on him, court records say.

That's when Randolph attacked. He hit McCollum in the head with his fists, kicked her, choked her and stabbed her with a knife − all while taking breaks to continue trying to get in the safe, according to court records. Randolph then raped McCollum and left her for dead, prosecutors said.

McCollum held on for six days before she succumbed to her wounds in the hospital.

Though he couldn't access the safe, Randolph fled the store with stolen lottery tickets and McCollum's car. He was later convicted of first-degree murder, sexual battery, armed robbery, and grand-theft auto, and was sentenced to death.

"His statements reflect the fact that she was much tougher than he thought and that he had to repeat the beatings and/or strangulations," Seventh Circuit Judge Robert Perry said at Randolph's sentencing. "From her repeated screams during the beatings, strangulation, and stabbing in the throat it is clear that the victim agonized over her injuries and impending death."

Who was Minnie McCollum?

USA TODAY was unable to identify whether McCollum has any surviving family members and the Florida Attorney General's Office did not respond to a request to reach out to them to help tell her story.

Tanner remembered that McCollum seemed particularly loved in East Palatka, especially among the customers at the Handy Way.

"She was kind of a public figure. When you work in a small convenience store in Palatka, everyone gets to know everyone," he said. "They thought the world of her. We had people call in and say that she was just a wonderful person and that they hope we have him pay the penalty for what he's done."

Archived news reports have spelled her last name as McCollum, McCullum and McCullom. The attorney general's office did not respond to USA TODAY's repeated efforts to confirm her correct name spelling.

FamilySearch, a well-respected genealogy site run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, lists her name as Minnie Ruth McCullum and describes her as a mother of one son who had been married to her husband for 47 years. Both her son and husband are listed as deceased.

Who is Richard Barry Randolph?

Randolph's trial attorneys argued that he didn't deserve the death penalty for a number of reasons: he was adopted and never had a loving relationship with his mother, he had an anti-social disorder, and he was under the influence of crack cocaine when he killed McCollum.

Judge Perry dismissed those arguments, saying that he was loved by both his adoptive parents, that his personality disorder had no bearing on the crime and that the assertion that he was high on crack was "self-serving."

The judge wrote that Randolph "found it necessary to silence his victim to prevent his detection and arrest" because McCollum and Randolph used to be coworkers. "It is clear that she could have positively identified him," the judge wrote.

Randolph's current attorneys have sought to stop the execution, arguing in part that the three drugs Florida uses for its lethal injections would cause him a "torturous" death because of his lupus.

They refuted that Randolph had a good childhood, saying his adoptive father was abusive and that his adoptive mother had a drinking problem. The attorneys said he was repeatedly hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. They also cited Randolph's "growth as a person and his positive prison record" during the nearly 40 years he's spent behind bars.

The Florida Supreme Court rejected those arguments, calling the attack on McCollum "brutal and prolonged" and saying that it's too late to challenge his execution because of his lupus.

"Randolph concedes that he was diagnosed with lupus in 1990 and has had the disease his entire life. Moreover, the current three-drug protocol has remained essentially unchanged since," the court wrote. "That being the case, the facts on which this claim is predicated have been available since at least 2017. Randolph’s current claim was raised eight years later and is thus untimely."

How many more executions are there this year?

Three more inmates are set to be executed by the end of the year, all involving violence against women: Harold Nichols in Tennessee on Dec. 11 for the 1988 rape and murder of 21-year-old Karen Pulley, Mark Geralds in Florida on Dec. 12 for the 1989 stabbing death of 33-year-old housewife Tressa Pettibone during a home-invasion robbery, and Frank Athen Walls in Florida on Dec. 18 for a couple's 1987 double murder, though he's believed to be a serial killer responsible for at least five murders.

Of the 43 executions so far this year, 34 involved at least one female victim. Of those, 21 cases involved sexual violence against the women and six were attacks on domestic partners.

If the rest of the executions on the books for 2025 take place as scheduled, the U.S. will have put 47 inmates to death this year. The last time that many inmates were executed in the U.S. was 16 years ago in 2009.

Experts attribute the uptick in executions to the political climate under pro-death penalty President Donald Trump and a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.

Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers the death penalty for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'She knew he was going to kill her': Florida killer to be executed 37 years after murder

Reporting by Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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