Former Prison Guard Trainee Who Executed 5 Women in Bank Sentenced to Death

Mar. 15, 2025

Zephen Xaver.Photo:Highlands County Sheriff’s Office via AP

Highlands County Sheriff’s Office via AP

Nearly six years after murdering five women in Florida, a former prison guard trainee has been sentenced to death.

On Monday, Dec. 16, Zephen Xaver, now 27, appeared at the Highlands County Courthouse in Sebring, Fla., where Circuit Judge Angela Cowden handed down his sentence, telling him, “May God have mercy on your soul,” reports theAssociated Press,The New York TimesandFOX 13 News.

Xaver pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder in March 2023 for the deaths of Cynthia Watson, 65 (who had been married less than a month); Marisol Lopez, 55 (who was a mother of two);Ana Pinon-Williams, 38 (who was a mother of seven); Debra Cook, 54 (who was a mother of two and a grandmother); and Jessica Montague, 31 (who was a mother of one and a stepmother of four), perWWSB.

The SunTrust Bank branch is seen as law enforcement officials continue to investigate the scene where five people were killed on January 24, 2019 in Sebring, Florida.Joe Raedle/Getty

Joe Raedle/Getty

The women were killed on Jan. 23, 2019, after Watson opened fire at SunTrust Bank in Sebring, whereWatson, a customer, and the four other women, employees of the bank, were inside. They were fatally shot execution-style after he ordered them to lie on the floor, the outlets report.

Xaver committed the crimes two weeks after quitting his job at the Avon Park Correctional Institution in Avon Park, Fla., where he was in training, per the Associated Press,The New York Timesand Fox 13 News. He was only employed there for two months.

According to the Associated Press, before that, Xaver joined the Army in 2016 and was discharged after three months.

Zephen Xaver.Highlands County Sheriff’s Office via AP

His sentencing came after a two-week penalty trial in June, where a jury recommended the death penalty in a 9-3 vote.

In Florida,only an eight‑juror major­i­ty is required for a death sen­tence to be imposed, and every individual who is sentenced to deathreceives an automatic appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

His attorney previously argued that he should receive a life sentence due to multiple factors, including his “history of mental illness, his benign brain tumor, and his jailhouse embrace of Christianity,” reports the Associated Press. According to FOX 13 News, State Attorney Brian Haas said all of the victims‘ families support seeking the death penalty.

source: people.com