Right now, there are 253 people on death row in Florida. Among the inmates is a man who’s been there for nearly 50 years. He has one of the longest tenures on death row in the state. Meanwhile, his victim’s family – one of the oldest families in Bonita Springs – is left waiting with little to no explanation of why they haven’t yet gotten closure. BONITA SPRINGS: ‘IT WAS A GREAT PLACE TO GROW UP’ Buck Piper has seen time change Bonita Springs. It’s much different now than it was during his childhood. “I remember when there were no stop lights,” Piper joked. “Later on in the ’70s, we got a couple.” The Piper family is well known in the city. They opened the Everglades Wonder Gardens in the 1930s and ran it for about 80 years. “It was a great place to grow up as a kid,” Piper recalled. “All we needed was a little runaround boat to get from one bay to the other.” But for all that’s changed over the past five decades, the time passed has not been able to take away the pain of the Piper family’s worst moment. 1976 MURDER: ‘IT WAS LIKE A HORROR SCENE’ Buck and his wife Cindi Piper will never forget the summer it happened. “Those are the kind of things – you remember everything,” Cindi Piper recalled. “It was like a horror scene.” It was August of 1976. They got a call warning of problems at Buck’s parents’ house and rushed over. In the front yard, Buck’s little sister Jill Piper – just 16 years old – lay dead. She’d been shot several times and murdered. “I tried cradling her, you know,” Buck Piper recalled. “Just told her I loved her.” It was an unthinkable crime in small 1970s Bonita Springs, and the search was on for the suspect – Jill’s ex-boyfriend – Harold Gene Lucas. He’d also shot two others at the house, who survived. After one week, he was in police custody. He claimed at the time he couldn’t recall the shooting because he’d consumed large amounts of drugs and alcohol. In less than a year, Lucas was tried – found guilty – and sentenced to death. It was quick closure for a heartbroken family. “It’s a done deal,” Buck Piper recalled thinking. “Within a couple of years, it’ll be all said and done.” Little did they know then… that was only the beginning. NEARLY 50 YEARS LATER, LUCAS REMAINS ON DEATH ROW First, it was one appeal for Lucas, then another. There were new hearings, re-sentencings and court rulings that started the process over again. Months would pass, then years, then decades. Still today, Lucas remains on death row. He’s now been there for nearly 50 years. Buck Piper doesn’t know why Lucas has not been executed yet. “Not a clue. I really don’t,” he said. “Even though it’s been appealed, it’s never been overturned.” “I don’t know why this guy has been on death row for 50 years,” Lee Hollander said. Hollander, a defense attorney, is not involved in Lucas’ case. But he has defended other suspects who’ve received the death penalty, including convicted murderers Joseph Zieler and Wade Wilson. Hollander said there are several different types of appeals, and the process typically does drag out for years. “It just takes a long time,” he explained. Still, he admits, 50 years is unusual. The average time on death row in Florida is 23 years. Lucas has more than doubled that. “Can you imagine how many people in 50 years he saw do the walk that he didn’t have to do?” Cindi Piper said. FLORIDA RAMPS UP EXECUTIONS IN 2025 It’s not that Florida is slowing its executions. In fact – it’s quite the opposite. This year, 17 inmates have been executed, with two more still scheduled. That’s more than any year in the state’s history. “I’m not sure why the push to execute all these people,” Hollander said. “Life in prison means life in prison. They bring you out in a box.” In an early November news conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis answered a question about the record number of executions. “We’re doing it to be able to bring justice to the victims’ families. And I think it’s important,” he said in part. NON-PROFIT: FLORIDA’S SELECTION PROCESS FOR EXECUTIONS IS ‘ABITRARY’ In Florida, the governor signs the death warrants. Most inmates executed this year were for crimes committed in the 1990s. Gulf Coast News reached out to the governor’s office to ask about Lucas’ case and to find out how inmates are chosen for execution. We have not gotten a response. A nonprofit that tracks death penalty data has said that Florida’s selection process appears ‘secretive and arbitrary.’ “We’re like waiting for them to pick his name and say, ‘It’s your turn,’” Cindi Piper said. COURT FILINGS REVEAL A LENGTHY, COMPLICATED LEGAL CASE Gulf Coast News also reached out to the state attorney’s office for an update on Lucas’ case. A spokesperson did not respond to our inquiry. In one of Lucas’ re-sentencings, a jury voted 11-1 to recommend death. It was not unanimous. That, in conjunction with a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, appears to have opened new legal avenues for Lucas. It could be why the governor has yet to sign his death warrant.It’s not clear when his case will finally be resolved. PIPER FAMILY STILL WAITS FOR CLOSURE Over nearly 50 years, for all that time has changed in Bonita Springs, for all it’s taken from the Pipers, somehow it has yet to give them what they so desperately need: closure. Buck Piper’s father died, still waiting for it. He now worries his mother will too. “I just feel bad for that little 86-year-old woman in Alabama. My mom. Her and dad never, they never got over the loss of their daughter,” he said. “It’s something that still weighs on her mind to this day.” DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.
BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. —
Right now, there are 253 people on death row in Florida.
Among the inmates is a man who’s been there for nearly 50 years. He has one of the longest tenures on death row in the state.
Meanwhile, his victim’s family – one of the oldest families in Bonita Springs – is left waiting with little to no explanation of why they haven’t yet gotten closure.
BONITA SPRINGS: ‘IT WAS A GREAT PLACE TO GROW UP’
Buck Piper has seen time change Bonita Springs.
It’s much different now than it was during his childhood.
“I remember when there were no stop lights,” Piper joked. “Later on in the ’70s, we got a couple.”
The Piper family is well known in the city. They opened the Everglades Wonder Gardens in the 1930s and ran it for about 80 years.
“It was a great place to grow up as a kid,” Piper recalled. “All we needed was a little runaround boat to get from one bay to the other.”
But for all that’s changed over the past five decades, the time passed has not been able to take away the pain of the Piper family’s worst moment.
1976 MURDER: ‘IT WAS LIKE A HORROR SCENE’
Buck and his wife Cindi Piper will never forget the summer it happened.
“Those are the kind of things – you remember everything,” Cindi Piper recalled. “It was like a horror scene.”
It was August of 1976. They got a call warning of problems at Buck’s parents’ house and rushed over.
In the front yard, Buck’s little sister Jill Piper – just 16 years old – lay dead.
She’d been shot several times and murdered.
“I tried cradling her, you know,” Buck Piper recalled. “Just told her I loved her.”
It was an unthinkable crime in small 1970s Bonita Springs, and the search was on for the suspect – Jill’s ex-boyfriend – Harold Gene Lucas. He’d also shot two others at the house, who survived.
After one week, he was in police custody. He claimed at the time he couldn’t recall the shooting because he’d consumed large amounts of drugs and alcohol.
In less than a year, Lucas was tried – found guilty – and sentenced to death.
It was quick closure for a heartbroken family.
“It’s a done deal,” Buck Piper recalled thinking. “Within a couple of years, it’ll be all said and done.”
Little did they know then… that was only the beginning.
NEARLY 50 YEARS LATER, LUCAS REMAINS ON DEATH ROW
First, it was one appeal for Lucas, then another. There were new hearings, re-sentencings and court rulings that started the process over again.
Months would pass, then years, then decades.
Still today, Lucas remains on death row. He’s now been there for nearly 50 years.
Buck Piper doesn’t know why Lucas has not been executed yet.
“Not a clue. I really don’t,” he said. “Even though it’s been appealed, it’s never been overturned.”
“I don’t know why this guy has been on death row for 50 years,” Lee Hollander said.
Hollander, a defense attorney, is not involved in Lucas’ case. But he has defended other suspects who’ve received the death penalty, including convicted murderers Joseph Zieler and Wade Wilson.
Hollander said there are several different types of appeals, and the process typically does drag out for years.
“It just takes a long time,” he explained.
Still, he admits, 50 years is unusual.
The average time on death row in Florida is 23 years. Lucas has more than doubled that.
“Can you imagine how many people in 50 years he saw do the walk that he didn’t have to do?” Cindi Piper said.
FLORIDA RAMPS UP EXECUTIONS IN 2025
It’s not that Florida is slowing its executions. In fact – it’s quite the opposite.
This year, 17 inmates have been executed, with two more still scheduled.
That’s more than any year in the state’s history.
“I’m not sure why the push to execute all these people,” Hollander said. “Life in prison means life in prison. They bring you out in a box.”
In an early November news conference, Gov. Ron DeSantis answered a question about the record number of executions.
“We’re doing it to be able to bring justice to the victims’ families. And I think it’s important,” he said in part.
NON-PROFIT: FLORIDA’S SELECTION PROCESS FOR EXECUTIONS IS ‘ABITRARY’
In Florida, the governor signs the death warrants. Most inmates executed this year were for crimes committed in the 1990s.
Gulf Coast News reached out to the governor’s office to ask about Lucas’ case and to find out how inmates are chosen for execution. We have not gotten a response.
A nonprofit that tracks death penalty data has said that Florida’s selection process appears ‘secretive and arbitrary.’
“We’re like waiting for them to pick his name and say, ‘It’s your turn,’” Cindi Piper said.
COURT FILINGS REVEAL A LENGTHY, COMPLICATED LEGAL CASE
Gulf Coast News also reached out to the state attorney’s office for an update on Lucas’ case. A spokesperson did not respond to our inquiry.
In one of Lucas’ re-sentencings, a jury voted 11-1 to recommend death. It was not unanimous.
That, in conjunction with a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, appears to have opened new legal avenues for Lucas. It could be why the governor has yet to sign his death warrant.
It’s not clear when his case will finally be resolved.
PIPER FAMILY STILL WAITS FOR CLOSURE
Over nearly 50 years, for all that time has changed in Bonita Springs, for all it’s taken from the Pipers, somehow it has yet to give them what they so desperately need: closure.
Buck Piper’s father died, still waiting for it.
He now worries his mother will too.
“I just feel bad for that little 86-year-old woman in Alabama. My mom. Her and dad never, they never got over the loss of their daughter,” he said. “It’s something that still weighs on her mind to this day.”
DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.