George Larry Hill, a 50-year-old interior designer, was a man who appreciated a well-appointed home. On the evening of January 5, 1987, he was at a gay bar in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he met a drifter named Edward Castro. After a conversation, Mr. Hill agreed to take Castro back to the stylish home he shared with a doctor. The decision would prove to be a fatal one, making him the second of three men murdered by Castro in a brutal crime spree that spanned late 1986 and early 1987.
Upon entering the residence, Castro was reportedly consumed by jealousy over the home's comfortable and modern interior, which included an entertainment center with multiple televisions and VCRs. This envy quickly curdled into a murderous rage. Arming himself with a knife from the kitchen, Castro confronted Mr. Hill, taunting him before tying him up. He then stabbed the defenseless man four times in the chest, killing him.
Before leaving the home he had just violated, Castro scrawled homophobic messages on the walls, adding a layer of hate to the senseless violence.
The murder of George Hill was part of a pattern of violence perpetrated by Edward Castro, a man who had a history of alcohol abuse and a diagnosed brain disorder. Less than three months earlier, in October 1986, Castro had beaten 46-year-old Claude Henderson to death in Auburndale. Just nine days after killing Mr. Hill, Castro murdered his third and final victim, 57-year-old Austin Carter Scott, in Ocala on January 14, 1987. Castro's spree ended shortly after Scott's murder when he was arrested in Lake City on a drunk and disorderly charge. While in a holding cell, he confessed to all three killings.
The legal proceedings that followed were complex. Castro was charged with the murders of George Hill and Austin Scott, but not for the death of Claude Henderson. In 1988, he was tried for the murder of Austin Scott, convicted, and sentenced to death. Three years later, in March 1991, a jury found him guilty of the first-degree murder of George Larry Hill. However, for this crime, the jury recommended a life sentence, which the judge imposed. Castro's death sentence for the Scott murder was overturned in 1992 but reinstated by a new jury the following year.
For years, the case moved through the appeals process. Ultimately, it was Castro himself who hastened his own end. He repeatedly sought to drop his appeals and fire his defense team, advocating for his own execution. In 1999, the Florida Supreme Court granted his request, and on November 14, 2000, Governor Jeb Bush signed the death warrant.
The death of George Larry Hill left a profound void, most acutely felt by his identical twin brother, Nathan Jerry Hill. For nearly 14 years, Nathan lived with the pain of his brother's violent death. On the evening of the execution, he remained in his Tampa apartment, waiting for the news. When he was told that Castro had offered a last-minute apology to the victims' families, Nathan felt a wave of emotion, stating, "I feel weak in the knees."
On December 7, 2000, after a final meal of steak, shrimp, ice cream, and cola, Edward Castro was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison. He was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. The execution closed the final chapter on a string of violent acts that had cut short the lives of three men, including a talented designer whose life ended in his own beautiful home.
