Florida Execution: Larry Eugene Mann Sentenced To Death For 1980 Murder Of 10-Year-Old Elisa Vera Nelson

A Florida execution of a 59-year-old convicted kidnapper and murderer went through as planned Wednesday night. Larry Eugene Mann, who sat in prison for 32 years for horrific crimes committed against a 10-year-old girl in 1980 was pronounced dead at 7:19 p.m. in Starke, Fla. after being administered a lethal injection.

Larry Mann abducted Elisa Vera Nelson on the morning of Nov. 4, 1980 as she was riding her bike to school, late because of a dentist appointment. Mann pulled up alongside Nelson in his pickup truck less than 100 yards from the school. Mann then grabbed her and took her to a Pinellas County orange grove where he beat her with a cement-encased pipe and slit her throat twice.

Later that week, Mann's wife was rummaging through Larry Mann's truck and found a bloodstained excuse note from Wendy Nelson, Elisa's mother as well as hair and blood samples. A neighbor called police and the officers found that the samples matched that of missing Elisa Nelson. Mann allegedly had a prior history of pedophilia and depression before the then-26-year-old killed the young girl. Examiners at the time found no evidence of sexual misconduct during the murder.

After then-Governor D. Robert Graham, D-Fla., signed Larry Mann's death warrant, Mann's attorneys began the flurry of appeals that ultimately delayed his execution. Mann was found to have attempted suicide shortly after the murder himself.

Mann's final meal was a seafood breakfast and the balding inmate said little other than "no, sir" at the time of his execution, waiving his opportunity for last words. He left behind a handwritten Bible verse "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life ... "

Elisa's brother, Jeff Nelson, present at the execution said Larry Mann's silence drew his suspicion as to whether he was truly "remorseful" for killing Elisa.