Zephen Xaver, a former prison guard trainee, was sentenced to death on Monday for the brutal killings of five women inside a bank in Sebring, Florida, nearly six years ago. During the sentencing, Circuit Judge Angela Cowden described the murders as “calculated, heinous, and cruel.” Xaver, 27, showed little reaction to the sentence, aside from a visible gulp, as the judge delivered the decision at the Highlands County Courthouse in Sebring.
The sentence followed a two-week penalty trial, during which a jury deliberated and, in June, voted by a 9-3 margin to recommend the death penalty for Xaver. The recommendation ultimately led to the judge’s decision to impose the death sentence. The case has drawn widespread attention due to the severity of the crime and the methodical nature of Xaver’s actions.
Judge Angela Cowden stated that the extensive planning Zephen Xaver carried out prior to the 2019 murders at Sebring’s SunTrust Bank, the scale of the crime, and the fear experienced by the victims far outweighed the numerous mitigating factors presented by his defense, which included his mental health history, a benign brain tumor, and his claim of finding faith while in prison. She concluded the sentencing by saying, “May God have mercy on your soul.”
Xaver pleaded guilty last year to five counts of first-degree murder for the slayings of customer Cynthia Watson, 65; bank teller coordinator Marisol Lopez, 55; banker trainee Ana Pinon-Williams, 38; teller Debra Cook, 54; and banker Jessica Montague, 31.
At gunpoint, Xaver ordered the women to lie on the floor and then shot each the head as they begged for mercy.
Kiara Lopez told Xaver and the court that her mother Marisol had welcomed him into the bank with a smile, an act he repaid by murdering her.
“You shattered me into a million pieces,” Lopez said. “I will celebrate the day you die, whenever that might be. Let it be known that you will always be a killer, a coward, a nobody and a waste of human life.”
Michael Cook, Debra’s husband, also called Xaver a coward and told the judge, “I have absolutely no sympathy for him.”
Xaver’s lead public defender, Jane McNeill, urged Judge Cowden to spare her client from the death penalty, suggesting that a life sentence would bring closure to the case more quickly than prolonged appeals or a potential retrial if the sentence were overturned. “The only way for this matter to be brought to an end, allowing the victims’ families and the community to move forward, is with a life sentence,” McNeill argued. She noted that the sentence would automatically be appealed.
McNeill also criticized a recent change in Florida law, which allows death penalty sentences to be determined by an 8-4 jury vote, rather than requiring unanimity. The law was enacted after the 2018 Parkland school shooter was not sentenced to death despite a 9-3 jury recommendation. McNeill called the new law unconstitutional.
Xaver relocated to Sebring, a small city with a population of around 11,000, in 2018 from the area near South Bend, Indiana. In 2014, after Xaver confided in others about having dreams of harming his classmates, his high school principal contacted the police. In response, his mother assured authorities that she would seek psychological help for him.
Xaver enlisted in the Army in 2016, but a former girlfriend, whom he met at a mental health facility, told police that he had said he joined the military as a way to “kill people and get away with it.” After just three months, the Army discharged him. In 2017, a woman in Michigan reported Xaver after he sent text messages hinting at the possibility of committing “suicide by cop” or taking hostages.
Despite his history of psychological issues and being discharged from the Army, Florida hired Xaver as a guard trainee at a prison near Sebring in November 2018. However, he resigned two months later, just two weeks before the bank shootings, and the day after purchasing a firearm.
Hours before the murders, Xaver began a lengthy, intermittent text conversation with a former girlfriend in Connecticut. He told her, “this is the best day of my life,” but refused to explain why. Fifteen minutes before the shooting, he texted her saying, “I’m dying today.” From the bank parking lot, he then sent another message saying, “I’m taking a few people with me because I’ve always wanted to kill people, so I am going to try it and see how it goes. Watch for me on the news.”
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