The Tropicana Killer: Why Florida is Rushing to Execute Melvin Trotter. [hwWxe8D8CSs]

True Crime, drama, causes, intrigue, killer, suspense, psychopath, psychologist, crime enthusiasts, monster. Execution Feb 24. DeSantis signed a death warrant on Friday, Jan. 23 for Melvin Trotter, 65, convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for strangling and stabbing Virgie Langford in Palmetto in 1986. Trotter is scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 24, two weeks after the scheduled execution of Ronald Palmer Heath. Who is Melvin Trotter? Melvin Trotter was sentenced to death Jan. 23, 2026, for the June 1986 murder of Virgie Langford. Melvin Trotter of Manatee County received the death sentence, twice, for fatally stabbing Langford, 70, during the robbery of her convenience store. Trotter was on house arrest for a previous burglary conviction when prosecutors said he waited outside Langford’s Grocery Store in Palmetto on June 16, 1986, for the last customer to leave. He confronted Langford, the owner, and stabbed her seven times with a butcher knife before taking $100 to buy drugs. A truck driver found her there. Langford had "a large abdominal wound that resulted in disembowelment," according to a summary by state Attorney General James Uthmeier. Hours after her surgery, Langford died of cardiac arrest. Next: Melvin Trotter.