The state of Florida executed 64-year-old Victor Tony Jones on Tuesday at 6:13 p.m. by lethal injection for the 1990 murder of a married couple he worked for. His last words were, “No, sir,” according to a witness of his execution.
He is the 13th person executed in Florida this year, which is the most of any U.S. state this year and a record for the state. In 2014, Florida executed eight people, its highest number before this year. Florida has executed 119 people, including Jones, since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The crime
On Dec. 19, 1990, Jones fatally stabbed Matilda and Jacob Nestor at work in Miami. Jones was employed with their company for two days, according to court documents.
Jones attacked Matilda, 66, from behind as she was walking to the bathroom and stabbed her in the neck.
Jones then went into an office, where he found Jacob, 67, and stabbed him in the chest. Jacob reached for a telephone in a failed attempt to call for help, and then he shot at Jones five times, hitting him once in the forehead. According to records, Jones robbed the Nestors after the attack.
During the attack, a UPS delivery man looked into the mail slot and saw a man’s feet, legs and blood laying on the floor. The delivery man requested help from a neighbor and called emergency services.
Police officers arrested Jones upon discovering him alive and seated on a couch, covered in blood.
Jones said his head hurt while sitting in the back of a responding officer’s car. Jones said, "The old man shot me,” according to records, and refused to comment on further details while en route to the hospital.
Two wallets, which were identified Matilda and Jacob’s, were found in Jones’ clothes at the hospital.
According to documents, Jones said he had to leave the hospital because he had “killed those people.” When the nurse asked why, he said, “They owed me money, and I had to kill them.”
Jones was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed robbery and one count for the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. A trial court sentenced him to death for the murders and life in prison for the robberies.
Jones filed for six successive postconviction motions from 1999 to 2017, all of which were denied.
He attended the infamous reform school the Okeechobee School as a child, and his attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause his execution due to the abuse they said he experienced there.
After the Florida Legislature passed and the Dozier School for Boys and Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Program last year, Jones submitted a sworn statement he had suffered abuse at the school and witnessed a gang-rape that traumatized him.
On Jan. 6, the state formally recognized Jones as a victim of crimes committed by Florida officials, granting him financial compensation, according to a letter written by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
This week, the attorneys released a 36-page petition about the new findings. That petition was ultimately rejected.
The day of the execution
Florida for Alternatives to the Death Penalty delivered nearly 5,000 petition signatures, the day of the execution, to Gov. Ron DeSantis, urging the state to stop the execution.
Our Lady of the Lourdes Catholic Church members gathered outside of the Raiford State Prison an hour before the time of death. The church travels to Raiford from Daytona Beach for every execution. Church members were met with FADP and Florida citizens who wanted to attend the peaceful protest.
The pastor, Philip Egitto, led the group in prayer throughout the hour, singing songs like “Amazing Grace.”
Barbara Potts, 67, travelled from Switzerland, Florida, to attend the protest. She said she can’t wrap her head around the reason for the death penalty.
“I would love to know what made Gov. DeSantis decide to kill that man,” Potts said.
Helen Pajama, 88, drove up with Our Lady of the Lourdes Catholic Church for the 16th time. Pajama said she’s been fighting the death penalty for 35 years and is writing a fiction book called “Total Commitment” about the death penalty from the point of view of a death row prisoner.
“What’s happening? Homicide. Can’t deny it,” Pajama said.
During the worship, across the field was another public presentation. Bill Campbell, 71, from Marion County, sat in a lawn chair next to speakers playing loud, upbeat music across from the protest. This is Campell’s eighth time coming to an execution.
“This is something that has to be done,” Campbell said. “It’s a shame. I don’t wish to have people executed. But this guy today murdered his employers.”
Matilda and Jacob Nestor’s daughter, Irene Fisher, attended the execution. She said it wasn’t an easy situation, but after witnessing Jones die, she wished her parents had the opportunity to die as gracefully.
“I’m very happy on one end that it’s over, and I’m sad also that someone else had to lose their life, that justice was finally served,” Fisher said.
She said her parents were “incredible human beings.” They were high school sweethearts who were known for helping in the community, Fisher added. In their engineering shop, Jacob made medical tools for plastic surgeons all around Florida. Matilda was his right-hand man.
Fisher said she forgives Jones.
Contact Teia Williams at twilliams@alligator.org Follow her on X @teia_williams.
Teia is a general assignment reporter for Metro. She is also a second semester journalism transfer student from Daytona State College and served as Editor-in-Chief for In Motion, DSC's student newspaper. When she's not writing, Teia can be found reading, going to concerts, at the beach and talking about her favorite artists.
