Man is sentenced to death for killing gay couple on Boxing Day, saying they ‘deserved to be put down’
A Florida man, who described gay people as a “disgrace,” has been given the death penalty for murdering a gay couple he met on Craigslist back in 2010.
Peter Avsenew, 32, was convicted last year of murdering Kevin Adams and Steven Powell at their home in Wilton Manors, reports Local 10 News.
Adams and Powell were found shot dead and wrapped in blankets on Boxing Day in 2010.
Kevin Adams and Steven Powell were murdered in 2010. (CBS Miami)
Avsenew, a sex worker, met the couple after he placed an advert on Craigslist. He moved in with them a couple of weeks before their deaths.
In court, the prosecution alleged that the 32-year old was found in possession of the couple’s car, an SUV, adding that he had used their credit cards.
The defence claimed that Avsenew stole the items after discovering that the couple were dead.
Avsenew’s mother turned him in to police after he arrived at her home in central Florida unexpectedly and then made suspicious comments to her.
She also testified against him in court.
The sex worker reportedly showed no remorse over the murders, and sent a hand-written letter to Broward County Judge Ilona Holmes, following his conviction in 2017.
Avsenew reportedly stole the couple’s SUV, after he murdered them. (FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images)
“It is my duty as a white man to cull the weak and timid from existence,” he wrote, according to Local 10 News. “I will always stand up for what I believe in and eradicate anything in my way. Homosexuals are a disgrace to mankind and must be put down. These weren’t the first and won’t be the last.”
He also allegedly said in June: “I wholeheartedly have nothing to lose and I’m going to take it out on everybody I can,” reports Local 10 News.
Speaking in court via video link, Avsenew’s mother explained: “I said: ‘Is the car stolen?’ and I think you told me the car wasn’t stole.”
She added: “I told him he was making me an accessory to whatever he’d done…he just laughed, he said: ‘Don’t worry about it.’”
She said that she then found suspicious images on Avsenew’s computer, so she told a friend, before calling the police.
