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Tallahassee, FL - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Thomas Gudinas, a man convicted in the 1994 rape and murder of 22-year-old Michelle McGrath in downtown Orlando.
Gudinas, 51, is set to be executed on June 24th, making him the seventh person scheduled for execution in Florida this year.
McGrath disappeared after a night out in Orlando on May 21, 1994.
She was last seen around 2:45 a.m. near a nightclub courtyard. Hours later, her body was discovered in a nearby alley.
A 1995 sentencing document described the scene as brutal, McGrath had allegedly been raped and beaten with a blunt object.
The order, written by then-Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr., described the killing as exceptionally violent, noting that McGrath endured a prolonged and painful death.
The case was moved to Collier County due to pretrial concerns, and Gudinas was sentenced to death in June 1995.
Florida’s Supreme Court posted the warrant and related documents online Friday.
As with previous death warrants signed by DeSantis, no public statement accompanied the filing.
Florida has ramped up executions in recent years. In 2025 alone, five executions have already taken place, with another scheduled for June 10th.
If both proceed, Florida will tie its modern record of eight executions in a single year, previously reached in 1984 and 2014.
Gudinas remains on death row at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford.
His execution will follow the lethal injection protocol unless last-minute legal appeals are successful.