TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Rick Scott signed a death warrant Monday for a man who broke into his ex-girlfriend’s Polk County home and kidnapped, raped and murdered her 11-year-old daughter.
Eddie Wayne Davis is scheduled to die by lethal injection on July 10 for the March 4, 1994 murder, of Kimberly Waters.
Davis told investigators he broke into Beverly Schultz’ home looking for beer money. He didn’t think anybody was home, but turned the light on in Schultz’ bedroom and found Kimberly sleeping in her mother’s bed. The girl’s older sister was asleep in another room.
Davis shoved a rag into Kimberly’s mouth to keep her from making any noise, then took her to his former trailer, where he raped the girl. He then brought her to another location, where he beat her and covered her mouth and with plastic. Kimberly ripped it off, so he pressed it against her face until she suffocated. He then threw the girl’s body in a dumpster.
“Eddie Wayne Davis brutally and viciously and sadistically raped and murdered a young girl. He earned the death penalty and he deserves the death penalty,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who was a major on the department when Davis confessed to him. “To make matters worse, once he committed all those atrocious acts, then he threw her into a dumpster. The message that sent told me what he really thought of that beautiful child, and she was a beautiful child.”
Davis initially denied he killed the girl. Investigators, though, found a pair of his boots with Kimberly’s blood on them and found Davis’ DNA under her fingernails. After being confronted by the evidence, Davis called out to Judd as Judd walked by a holding cell and then confessed.
“There are a lot of terrible crimes that occur but that is in the top 10 of my 41 years of service, and I’ve seen thousands and thousands of vicious crimes,” Judd said.
Schultz died in a motorcycle accident 10 years after her daughter’s murder. Phone messages for other relatives weren’t immediately returned.
