Summary
Thomas Mitchell Overton, 70, was sentenced to death in Florida for the 1991 murders of Susan "Missy" MacIvor, 29, and her husband, Michael MacIvor, 30, at their home in Tavernier in the Florida Keys. Susan MacIvor was eight months pregnant, and their unborn child did not survive.
His execution by lethal injection is scheduled for Thursday 19 November 2026 at 6:00 pm at Florida State Prison. If it goes ahead, it would be Florida's 20th execution of 2026, the most in a single year since 1976.
The crime
In 1991, Overton, then 35, worked at a petrol station in Tavernier, on Key Largo in the Florida Keys, where he met Susan MacIvor, a local teacher. In 1991, Susan and Michael MacIvor were killed in their home. Susan MacIvor was eight months pregnant, and the couple's unborn child also died.
The case went unsolved for several years. Overton was charged in 1997 with the rape and murder of Susan MacIvor and the murder of Michael MacIvor. At his trial, a fellow inmate testified that Overton had admitted breaking into the home to rape Susan MacIvor and killing the couple.
He was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to death on both murder counts. The jury's recommendations for death were not unanimous, which Florida law allowed at the time.
Legal history
- 1991Susan and Michael MacIvor killed at their home in Tavernier, Florida Keys
- 1997Charged with the rape and murder of Susan MacIvor and the murder of Michael MacIvor
- 1999Convicted and sentenced to death, on non-unanimous jury recommendations
- 2001Florida Supreme Court upholds the convictions and death sentences
- 2002His sentences become final, a month before the US Supreme Court's Ring v. Arizona decision changed death penalty sentencing rules
- After 2016Florida Supreme Court rejects his claim under changes to Florida's death sentencing law, because his sentences became final before 2002
- 21 October 2026Governor Ron DeSantis signs a death warrant setting execution for 19 November 2026 at 6:00 pm
Current status
The execution is scheduled for Thursday 19 November 2026 at 6:00 pm Eastern time at Florida State Prison. The Florida Supreme Court has set a fast schedule for any final appeals, with the first legal briefs due on 6 November.
It is the 21st death warrant Governor DeSantis has signed in 2026. If carried out, it would be Florida's 20th execution of the year, the most in any year since 1976. Earlier in October the governor withdrew another warrant, for William Thompson, after psychiatrists evaluated him for dementia.
Campaigners asking for clemency, including Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, point out that he was sentenced to death by non-unanimous juries and that, as a child, he was held at the Dozier School for Boys, a state reform school where children were abused.
Sources
- News4Jax: DeSantis signs death warrant; would be 20th execution this year
- TCPalm (via Yahoo News): Florida to execute Thomas Overton for Keys double murder
- Tracking Florida's Death Penalty: new warrant and legal history
- Death Penalty Information Center: upcoming executions
- Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty: clemency petition (advocacy group)