Three years, two months and 22 days after former Lakeland Commissioner Edie Yates Henderson and her husband, real estate developer David Henderson, were brutally stabbed in their Lake Morton home, their killer has been convicted.
A Polk County jury found Marcelle Waldon, 39, guilty on Wednesday of two counts of first-degree murder, plus eight other felonies including kidnapping, armed robbery and arson.
Now jurors will have to decide whether Waldon should be put to death for the crime.
The guilt phase of the trial only lasted a week and a half. Faced with overwhelming evidence, it only took the jury two hours to come up with a guilty verdict on all counts Wednesday evening, with the lead juror reading off “guilty” 10 times just before 6 p.m.
The penalty phase of the case will begin on Monday before the same jurors. The state is seeking the death penalty, saying there were multiple aggravating factors:
- The defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or felony involving the use or threat of violence.
- The capital felony was committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of, or flight after committing, robbery, sexual assault, burglary, kidnapping or arson.
- The capital felony was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing arrest.
- The capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.
- The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.
Before the trial began, Waldon’s attorney, Debra Tuomey, discussed with Levine and Judge Kevin Abdoney, an expert witness she wanted to call to testify about Waldon’s “intellectual competency.” Abdoney said she should wait until the penalty phase.
She told jurors that “Marcelle Waldon is a simple man … a member of the homeless community in Lakeland. He lived day by day.”
Tuomey declined to comment on what her argument will be to save her client from the death penalty.
State Attorney’s Office spokesman Jacob Orr said a penalty phase is like a shorter version of a trial. There will be opening statements, both sides will call witnesses and each side will make closing arguments. The jury will deliberate and make their recommendations, with Judge Abdoney having the final say.
Yates, 67, was a member of the Lakeland City Commission from 2006 to 2018, serving three terms, the maximum allowed. A certified public accountant and financial planner, she was managing partner at Baylis & Co. accounting firm.
Henderson, 63, was a lawyer-turned-commercial developer via his company, Henderson Properties.
‘He could have walked out the door’
The trial focused on the brutality of the crime, but also the fact that Waldon could have left the home after tying the Hendersons up and taking what he wanted.
When Waldon entered the Hendersons’ home on the morning of Nov. 10, 2020, Edie was in the upstairs bathroom drying her hair after a shower. David was out picking up the couple’s breakfast from a local deli.
Assistant State Attorney Mark Levine said Waldon had a silver revolver in his pocket and grabbed a knife from the butcher block on the kitchen counter.
He ambushed Edie and made her lie down in the master bedroom closet. When David came home, Waldon attacked him as well, tied him up and placed him on the closet floor alongside his wife.
And then, Levine said, Waldon took out his own cellphone and snapped a picture of the still-alive Hendersons. While he was taking pictures, he inadvertently captured his black sneakers in a frame, the knife in another, and his silver revolver in a third picture.
“He could’ve taken what he wanted and walked out the door and the Hendersons would still be alive,” Levine told the jury during opening statements. “The defendant was wanting to kill them to get away with his crime.”
Waldon stabbed David Henderson in the back 11 times. Then he ordered Edie to write him two checks for $5,000 each — made out to him — before he moved her to the bed and stabbed her a dozen times.
Waldon stuffed jewelry and David’s bank card into a drawstring bag and went downstairs to the kitchen. He rummaged through all the drawers and turned on all the burners to the Hendersons’ gas stove.
He put the Henderson’s cellphones in the microwave and turned it on, grabbed the key fob to David Henderson’s white Audi G6, climbed into the car and pulled out of the driveway. The car was later found burned.
Waldon took one more thing from the home that he didn’t realize. When he was arrested the next day after an acquaintance turned him in to police, Levine said the drawstring bag he still had was splashed with a small amount of Edie Yates Henderson’s DNA.
Sarah Baylis, the Henderson’s daughter-in-law, declined to comment Wednesday evening. Her husband, Todd Baylis, is Edie Yates Henderson’s son. Will Henderson is the son of David Henderson. The family will be allowed to speak if they wish during the sentencing phase.
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I have problems with the death penalty, but it survives because of precisely such cases – brutal and utterly senseless murders by evil men. So, I’m okay with the death penalty in this case, but it’s just a few minutes of suffering. Life in prison at 39 is a long living Hell and a worse punishment.