The Execution of Frank Athen Walls: The Okaloosa County Serial Murders, Final Meal, and Last Words

On December 18th, 2025, after spending more than 37 years on death row, Frank Athen Walls was executed by lethal injection in Florida. In this video, we’ll uncover what happened, his last meal, and his last words. It began in the early hours of July 22nd, 1987, when 20-year-old Frank broke into a neighbor’s mobile home in Okaloosa County.

 The house was dark and quiet as he moved down the hallway, but then on purpose, he knocked over a small fan. It toppled over and hit the floor hard, loud enough to wake the people sleeping inside. Frank froze and waited in the darkness. In the back bedroom, 22-year-old Air Force Airman Edward Alger and his girlfriend, 20-year-old Anne Louise Peterson, jolted awake.

 And when they stepped into the hallway to check the noise, Frank quickly took control. He forced Anne to restrain Edward’s wrists and ankles with a curtain cord. And once Edward was tied, Frank turned his attention to Anne, restraining her as well. For a moment, it seemed like Frank believed he had complete control of the situation.

 But that didn’t last long. Edward managed to free himself, and the moment the cord slipped, he lunged at Frank. The two crashed into walls and door frames, and Frank reached for the knife he had brought. He swung once and cut Edward across the throat, but Edward didn’t go down. Instead, he knocked the knife out of Frank’s hand and bit down on Frank’s leg with everything he had.

In the chaos, Frank pulled out a gun and fired until Edward stopped moving. Shaken by what had happened, Frank removed Anne’s gag and tried to speak to her. He told her he never meant for things to go this far. He said none of it had been planned and that everything had slipped out of his control. His words sounded frantic, almost desperate, as if he was trying to convince himself as much as her.

 But his actions told a different story. What followed was a final devastating betrayal. He started to Anne. And after he was done, he grabbed his gun once again and shot her once. When she started to scream, he pushed her face into a pillow, and fired a second time, this time killing her. After it was over, Frank gathered a few items from the home, about $200 in cash, a fan, and a wallet.

 Then he walked out into the night, convinced that no one would ever connect him to what he had done. But he was wrong. The next morning, when Edward failed to show up for duty at Eglund Air Force Base, his superior, Sergeant John Callaway, drove out to check on him. When he arrived, he knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

 Then he noticed the door was unlocked. He stepped inside and almost immediately realized something was terribly wrong. In one of the bedrooms, he saw a woman lying face down on the ground, motionless. He didn’t go any further. Instead, he immediately backed out and called the police. When investigators arrived, they carefully searched the home.

 They found Anne first shot in the head twice. In the second bedroom, they found Edward on the floor, nude, with his feet tied with a curtain cord and part of the same cord fastened to his wrist. He had been shot three times, and his throat had been cut. The investigation moved fast, and although Frank didn’t know it yet, the walls were already starting to close in.

His behavior had changed in the days after the crime. Subtle things at first. Nervous pacing, strange comments, attention that hadn’t been there before. His roommate noticed it almost immediately, and the more he thought about it, the more it bothered him. So, the day after the bodies were discovered, he walked into the sheriff’s office and told detectives there was someone they needed to look at.

 He told them his name was Frank. And just like that, the direction of the investigation changed. That single tip was enough to bring them to Frank’s trailer. Before the sun went down, they took him into custody. And by the end of the day, Frank was charged with everything the detectives could put on paper.

 two counts of firstdegree murder, two counts of kidnapping, armed robbery, burglary, grand theft, and possession of stolen property. When investigators searched his trailer, the picture became even clearer. Inside, they found items taken from Edward and Anne’s home, the oscillating fan, the wallet, and the $200 in cash Frank thought would never be traced back to him. But that wasn’t all.

 What detectives uncovered went far beyond stolen property. They also found an arsenal of weapons. Ice picks, knives, a 22 caliber pistol, bullets, eight more 22 caliber pistols, a holster, a box cutter, a rubber handled hatchet, material, a chainsaw, a pair of burnt boots, four telephones, two other fans, two lawnmowers, and 93 articles of clothing, including a pair of blooded jeans.

Tools that raised serious concerns about Frank’s past and his intentions. The search made one thing clear. This wasn’t someone who had simply lost control once. And when the interviews began, Frank didn’t deny what he had done. He straight up admitted to the killings inside that mobile home. But for detectives, that confession wasn’t the end of the story.

 Because for years, investigators in Okaloosa County had noticed a disturbing pattern. cases with the same kind of brutality, the same late night breakins, the same style of attack. So, while Frank sat in a cell waiting for trial, the sheriff’s office pulled together a special team to reopen every unsolved murder in the county.

 And almost immediately, their focus locked onto one case above all others, the killing of Audrey Gigi. When detectives searched Frank’s trailer again, they found a fan that matched one taken from Audrey’s home years earlier, and on its surface was a single fingerprint. Lab tests later confirmed it belonged to Audrey herself.

 And with that, it became clear that the man sitting in that cell wasn’t responsible for just one night of violence. He had been leaving a trail behind him for years, and no one had connected them until now. Frank had moved through Okaloosa County like a shadow. Between 1985 and 1987, he drifted from one crime to the next, breaking into homes, stealing what he could, and watching people who never realized they were being targeted.

 To most, he looked harmless, a quiet, skinny dishwasher from Ocean City, who kept his head down and stayed to himself. But beneath that calm surface, something darker had been growing for years. The trail stretched all the way back to March 26th, 1985 when Frank was just 17 years old. That day, he was completing community service hours on Okaloosa Island.

 The beach was almost empty, but nearby, 19-year-old Tommy Lou Whitten was sunbathing on her towel, alone, and unaware that she was being watched. Frank observed her from a distance, then made a decision that could never be taken back. He approached with a knife in his hand and cut her throat, leaving her bleeding on the sand.

 He then took her car and abandoned it behind a building. Her body was found later that evening by someone walking along the shoreline, but without any witnesses or leads, there wasn’t much detectives could do. But it didn’t end there. A year later, on September 16th, 1986, it happened again. This time the victim was 24y old Cynthia Sucondandra.

 She was found on the side of a rural road stabbed 21 times. No one knew why he picked her. No one even knew he had done it. And that case too quickly went cold. By 1987, Frank had still not been caught. And with each passing year, he grew more confident. On May 20th, he broke into a mobile home near Fort Walton Beach and found 47year-old Audrey Gigi alone.

 What really happened inside that home was unclear, but investigators believe he her then left only to return shortly afterward to finish what he started. Audrey never stood a chance. When her co-workers realized she hadn’t shown up for her shift at the Kel-Tech plant, they called for a welfare check. Officers entered her home and found her nude body on the floor, stabbed repeatedly.

 Some of her belongings were missing, but the person responsible was already gone. For years, these three murders remained unsolved as separate cases with no obvious connection. They sat quietly in evidence files while Frank moved through Okaloosa County unnoticed, breaking into homes, watching people, and taking small things he didn’t even need.

 All of it stayed hidden until July of 1987 when Frank committed the crime that finally exposed him and brought the past rushing back into the light. By the summer of 1988, Okaloosa County had heard more than enough details to fill every front page. The evidence for the murders on Edgar and Anne was overwhelming. So, prosecutors decided to try that case first.

 And when Frank’s trial finally started on July 15th, there was no doubt about what the state was seeking. From the very start, prosecutors made it clear they were asking for the death penalty. The photographs were difficult to look at, and the story laid out in the courtroom was so disturbing that jurors struggled to hide their reactions as the days went on.

 But the trial didn’t last long. After just 6 days, the jury reached a verdict. Frank was found guilty on both counts of first-degree murder. Then on August 25th, the judge delivered the outcome. Frank would be sentenced to death for the murder of Anne Peterson and life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the murder of Edward Alger.

 For many, it felt like the case was finally over. But for Frank, it wasn’t. He and his attorneys immediately pushed for a new trial, arguing that earlier hearings about his mental competency had been handled improperly. At the hearing, Frank’s attorneys laid out a picture that was difficult to ignore. They called expert after expert, each one describing the same pattern, a lifetime of disability that had never truly been addressed.

 They spoke about brain damage, a dramatic drop in Frank’s IQ after a serious case of menitis during his teenage years, and deep struggles with basic everyday functioning. One of the strongest voices supporting Frank’s disability claim came from fellow death row inmate Dwayne Owen. Dwayne, who was executed in 2023, lived next to Frank for nearly 30 years and saw his daily struggles up close.

 He said Frank had trouble reading, understanding basic information, and learning simple tasks. Dwayne also described Frank as confused, often talking to himself and needing constant help to function. But prosecutors pushed back hard. They pointed to earlier testing, noting that when Frank was a minor, he scored an average IQ of 97 across three separate tests.

 And while his score later dropped to an average of 73 as an adult, the state argued that this still did not meet the legal standard for significantly sub intellectual functioning. So at first it didn’t seem like the argument would go anywhere, but then unexpectedly it did. The case made its way to the Florida Supreme Court and in a surprising turn, the justices agreed.

The convictions were thrown out. The court ordered the entire case to be retrieded. This time in a different city, Mariana, far from the coastal headlines and public outrage that had surrounded the original trial. And just like that, what everyone thought was finished was suddenly wide open again. But even with a new setting and a fresh jury, nothing changed.

 In July 1992, after hearing all the evidence again, the verdict came back the same. guilty on all counts. And Judge Baron, standing behind his original decision, reinstated the same sentences he had handed down four years earlier. But even then, the story wasn’t finished. Investigators were still looking closely at other unsolved murders, especially the killing of Audrey.

 And less than a year after the second trial, Frank’s past finally caught up with him in a new and undeniable way. This time it wasn’t testimony or circumstance. It was DNA. Quietly, investigators retested evidence from Audrey’s case. And when the results came back, they pointed straight to Frank, sealing what many had long suspected and tying him even more firmly to a trail of violence that stretched back years.

 And with that, the full scope of what Frank had done was finally coming into focus. Frank could see where this was headed. Another trial, another flood of evidence, and very likely another push for the death penalty. And this time, the science would speak louder than anything he could say. So instead of rolling the dice again, Frank made a calculated move.

 He pleaded no contest to the murder of Audrey. And at the same time, he admitted responsibility for the killings of Tommy Louu and Cynthia. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to put him through additional trials for those cases. It wasn’t remorse, it was damage control. But even that didn’t end the questions. Roughly a month after that plea deal, sheriffs in Walton County announced they were investigating Frank for yet another murder.

 This one involving 35-year-old Lindseay Sams, a woman from Mississippi who had been staying at a condo in Myiramar Beach. In October 1986, Lindsay had been beaten so severely that even after she clung to life long enough to reach a hospital in Memphis. She never recovered enough to tell investigators what had happened. She died without giving investigators a single lead.

When detectives tried to question Frank about Lindsay Sams, he shut down completely. He wouldn’t explain. He wouldn’t offer theories. Instead, he told investigators he felt betrayed. There had been too many headlines, too many leaks, and too much attention on what he had already admitted to. And because of that, he refused to say a single word about this case.

 So for years, the truth stayed just out of reach. Suspicion never went away, though. FDLE agent Dennis Haley later said Frank had long been considered a strong suspect in Lindsay’s murder. But as time and no new evidence surfaced, investigators were forced to face a difficult truth. Frank’s silence wasn’t taking them any closer to answers.

And so rather than letting the case go cold, they widened the circle. They began looking beyond Frank himself toward the people closest to him at the time. That shift brought their attention to Mark Reeb, the stepfather of Frank’s girlfriend at the time. And this wasn’t some random turn. Mark already had a violent past.

 He and his brother had already been convicted in another similar killing and were serving life sentences. And for a while, that history seemed to point the investigation in a new direction. Then, in the mid 1990s, something unexpected happened. Inside a prison Bible study room, Alex, Mark’s brother, broke down.

 In front of other inmates, he confessed to something they couldn’t ignore. He said he had helped kill a woman. Word of the confession spread quickly and before long, detectives were listening as Alex told a story darker than anyone anticipated. And at the center of that story was one familiar name, Mark Reby. According to Alex, the brothers went to a small convenience store in G Breeze on August 16th, 1989.

The plan, he said, was supposed to be simple, a quick robbery. But when investigators walked inside, something didn’t add up. The clerk’s purse was still sitting on the counter, untouched. Investigators would later note that it didn’t even look like any money had been taken. What was taken was far worse. That night, 29-year-old Donna Callahan lost her life.

 She was in the early months of her second pregnancy. To this day, each brother blames the other for what happened next. But what investigators know for certain is this. Donna’s body was buried in the woods just steps away from the Rebies family’s property in DeFuniac Springs. Years later, Alex led detectives straight to the spot where her remains were hidden.

 When the case finally went to court, both brothers pleaded no contest to avoid the death penalty. Not long after Mark began serving his 25 to life sentence, he reached out to his mother and sister with a disturbing message. He told them to reach out to investigator Dennis Haley immediately. In his words, “It will be mind-boggling what I’m about to tell him.

” Then came the confessions. Mark began talking about more killings, 12 more, each one worse than the last. But just as quickly as he confessed, he took it all back. He denied it, then hinted again, then went silent. Over and over, he shifted between admission and denial, never fully committing to the truth.

 To detectives, it felt like they were dealing with someone who thrived on control, a serial predator who may have hunted across Northwest Florida for years. Families of missing women begged for answers, hoping their loved ones might finally be found. But Mark never did. He continued to play games even as the years passed. And even now, long after those interviews ended, investigators believe the true number of his victims is still buried, hidden in cold cases that remain unsolved and in answers Mark may never fully give.

 As for Lindsay Sams, no one was ever charged. Neither Mark nor Frank was held legally responsible for her death. Her case remains exactly where it has been since 1986. open, unsolved, and forever tied to two men who both refused to talk. But while Lindsay’s case remained unsolved, Frank’s story was moving toward its end.

 After decades of trials, retrials, and failed appeals, his time ran out. The legal road he had traveled for years came to a stop. And at last, the state set a date. Frank’s execution was scheduled for December 18th, 2025. That morning, Frank woke up at 5:10 a.m. and remained calm and compliant throughout the day.

 For his final meal, he requested chicken, steak, a baked potato, and cheesecake. He later met with one visitor and a spiritual adviser. In the days leading up to his execution, Frank’s faith was unshakable. He explained it in simple terms. Either the Lord will grant me a stay and let me live to continue to spread his word or the Lord will welcome me home.

Throughout his nearly 40 years on death row, Frank had leaned heavily on his Catholic faith. In those final hours, that faith became his anchor, the one constant he had held on to through decades of confinement, appeals, and waiting. Then the moment came. Frank was strapped to the gurnie and asked if he had any final words.

 He paused, then the execution team for allowing him to speak. His voice was calm as he addressed the room. “Good evening, everyone,” he said. “I appreciate the opportunity to say what’s on my heart. If any members of the family are here, I am sorry for all of the things I did, the pain I caused, and all of that you have suffered all these years.

” Moments later, the process began. A priest stood at his side holding his hand. Throughout it all, the priest prayed softly. At first, Frank’s breathing was heavy, but as time passed, it gradually slowed and grew calm. At 6:11 p.m., a physician entered the room. He checked Frank’s eyes, then listened carefully for a heartbeat.

 After a brief pause, he stepped back and spoke the words that marked the end. The execution had been carried out. Frank became the 19th person executed in Florida this year, more than doubling the state’s previous record of eight executions in a single year. Frank Athen Walls was 58 years old. What do you think? Has justice been served? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.