If ever there was a criminal case where the ultimate sentence is justified – death by lethal injection – it would be the case of Oba Chandler. Chandler is scheduled to be executed November 15th at 4:00 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke.
For those too young to remember; in 1989 the bodies of three women, Joan “Jo” Rogers aged 36, and her daughters Michele, 17 and Christe, 14, were discovered in the waters of Tampa Bay on June 4, 1989. They had been visiting the area on vacation from their home in Ohio. Jo and her daughters were pulled from the bay, naked from the waist down, with ropes around their necks and binding their hands and feet and attached to cinder blocks. Their mouths had been duct taped but their eyes were not covered. They had been lured and kidnapped by Chandler and taken out into the bay on his boat. It was disclosed that they probably were forced to watch as each was raped, thrown overboard while still alive and drowned.
Although Oba Chandler professed his innocence, testimony and evidence presented during the trial resulted in a jury verdict of three guilty counts in just ninety minutes. The jury also recommended the death penalty.
Twenty-two years later, many who remember the horrific circumstances of the deaths of this mother and her daughters bring back haunting memories. It was almost three years after the incident before he was finally captured. Three years of knowing that a monster lived among us here in Tampa Bay, and worrying that he would kill again.
When Oba Chandler dies tomorrow, he will be 65 years old. He has lived 22 years since he brutally and callously murdered these three women.
On November 15th at 4:00 p.m. as Chandler draws his last breath and quietly goes to sleep, we will remember Jo Rogers and her daughters Michele and Christe, and the horrifyingly unimaginable last minutes of their lives. We will finally see justice being served with the death of Oba Chandler.
Right Reason 
November 17, 2011 at 11:02 am
As an ‘average’ American, stories such as this prove to me that we have the “right laws” to punish these horrific crimes. My only concern is WHY it took 22 years for justice to be delivered. After conviction, perhaps a limit of, say, three years to carry out sentence.
The cost of ‘housing’ this evil man on Death Row for such an extended period is an absurdity. He was tried, convicted (and quickly, too), and sentenced. A ‘short’ period for a single appeal should put this to bed, and the sentence should be carried out.