James Hitchcock to be executed for 1976 murder

James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, will be executed by lethal injection Thursday, April 30, for the 1976 murder of his 13-year-old stepniece, Cynthia Driggers, in Winter Garden. 

Hitchcock had moved to Winter Garden July 1976 to live with his brother as a 20 year old fresh out of an Arkansas prison. 

Two weeks later, he went out for drinks, smoked cannabis and then went back to his brother's house. 

Hitchcock snuck inside his 13-year-old stepniece's room and raped her. 

According to prosecutors, Cynthia began yelling and threatening to tell her mother, which prompted Hitchcock to grab her by the neck and take her outside, where he beat her and strangled her to death. 

After the murder, he left her body outside in some bushes and went back inside to go to bed. 

He was arrested soon after as a suspect, and was officially convicted in 1977. 

Hitchcock tried blaming his brother, Cynthia's stepfather, for her murder. He claimed he was found in bed with the teenager, who was there willingly. In an act of rage, her father killed him. 

Hitchcock was found guilty and put on death row, though that was overturned three times before Governor Ron DeSantis signed his execution to take place Thursday, April 30.