Oba Chandler Executed, Denied Murders To The End
"Today, the devil loses," said a woman outside the Florida State Prison on Tuesday, who claims to be the daughter of a former Tampa aluminum contractor convicted of murdering an Ohio woman and her two teenage daughters.
A man who denied his guilt to the very end.
"There's no doubt in my mind that he did it," said Suzette, who wouldn't give a last name, but claims she's Chandler's biological daughter.
In a handwritten last statement, Oba Chandler, 65, denied killing Joan Rogers and her daughters, Michelle and Christe; denied his handwriting was the same on the travel brochure found in the Rogers' car; denied he wrote the directions to their death 22 years ago.
"He doesn't deserve to live," said Cindra Leedy, former St. Petersburg Detective.
Investigators say Chandler lured the women, vacationing in Florida, with the promise of an innocent boat ride. He would then rape them, and toss their bodies overboard. Investigators say, the three were still alive.
"He pulled a cement block out, tied it around their necks, and at that point, he didn't care if they suffocated, or if they drowned in the water," she said.
Cement blocks wouldn't keep Chandler's secret below water, three days after the murders, the womens' bodies surfaced in Tampa Bay.
"We're executing for revenge, we're not executing to stop people from killing, we teach you to kill," said Steven Machat, protesting Chandler's execution.
Whether they believed he deserved to die, witnessed him take his last breath inside the prison, or watched the white hearse pull out from behind the prison gates, this was the first time Chandler had so many visitors.
"According to our records, he has never had a visitor while he's been incarcerated with the state of Florida," said Gretl Plessinger, Department of Corrections spokesperson.
This is the closest Suzette has been to her biological father, a man who she says has played no part in her life, and is better dead, than alive.
"Good always wins. In the end, who wins? Good always wins," she said.
The victim's husband and father, Hal Rogers, witnessed the execution, as well as three prosecutors from the murder trial.
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