Crime & Safety
Appeal Denied in 1980 Pinellas County Murder
One of Florida's longest-serving death row inmates may be executed on Wednesday for the kidnapping and murder of a Pinellas County girl.
Larry Eugene Mann, 59, is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for the 1980 abduction and murder of a 10-year-old Pinellas County girl.
The Florida Supreme Court has rejected Mann's appeal for a stay of his execution by lethal injection, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Elisa Nelson was bicycling to school in November 1980 when she was kidnapped. Her body was found in an orange grove. She had died from a skull fracture by a single blow from what was believed to be a cement-encased steel pipe found at the scene.
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Mann, who had prior arrests for sexually assaulting children, was linked to the crime when his wife found a blood-stained letter from Elisa's mom that the child was carrying to school when she was kidnapped.
On the day Elisa was murdered Mann had tried to kill himself.
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Mann has filed several previous appeals from the Florida State Prison since he was convicted on March 26, 1981.
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