Florida To Execute Man 40 Years After Killing Elderly Grocery Store Owner

Melvin Tortter, 65, is set to become the second person to be executed in Florida this year. A three-drug injection is scheduled for 6 p.m. on February 24 at Florida State Prison near Starke. Trotter was convicted of the 1986 murder of a grocery store owner named Virgie Langford.

According to court records, Trotter strangled and stabbed Langford, the 70-year-old owner of Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto, in 1986. A truck driver found her alive after the attack and rushed her to the hospital, where she died after describing her attacker. Langford described the suspects physical appearance and said he wore a Tropicana employee batch with the name “Melvin”.

Court records show police later found a T-shirt with Langford’s blood type at Trotter’s home. Investigators also found Trotter’s handprint on the meat cooler inside the store.

Trotter was sentenced to death in 1987, but the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing in 1993 after identifying legal errors involving aggravating circumstances. He was again sentenced to death.

Earlier in February, the Florida Supreme Court denied Trotter's appeals. His attorney argued correctional facility officers had mismanaged execution protocols, according to reports by The Independent. Attorneys also argued his age should exempt him from execution. Trotter’s final appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court remains pending as of February 24.

A total of 47 people were executed in the United States in 2025. Florida carried out 19 executions after Governor Ron DeSantis signed death warrants. The states of Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas each carried out five executions.

Trotter’s execution will be Florida's second execution in 2026. Texas and Oklahoma have carried out one execution so far this year.

Ronald Palmer Heath, 64, was the first person executed in Florida in 2026. Heath was executed on February 10 for the murder of Michael Sheridan.

Two additional executions are scheduled in Florida in March. Billy Leon Kearse, 53, is scheduled for execution on March 3, and Michael Lee King, 54, on March 17.

All executions in the state of Florida is carried out using a three-drug protocol consisting of a sedative, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.