A Florida man convicted of raping and killing an 9-year-old boy nearly two decades ago is scheduled for execution on Wednesday, WPTV reported.
Juan Carlos Chavez will be put to death via lethal injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke.
In 1995, Chavez kidnapped Jimmy Ryce at gunpoint after he got off a school bus in Miami-Date County. In trial, prosecutors were able to prove that he raped the young boy and then fatally shot him when he tried to escape, then dismembered his body and hid the parts in concrete-covered planters.
Despite intensive searches by police and volunteers, it wasn't until three months after Jimmy went missing that Chavez's landlady discovered the boy's backpack and Chavez's murder weapon -- a revolver he had stolen from her -- in the trailer where he lived. Eventually, Chavez admitted to the crime and led police to Jimmy's remains.
He was convicted of murder, sexual battery, and kidnapping.
According to WPTV, Chavez tried to appeal his case several times, citing claims that the state's lethal injection procedure is unconstitutional, that he didn't get due process during clemency hearings, and that he should have an execution stay to pursue additional appeals in the federal courts.
Don Ryce, Jimmy's father, said he and his wife are determined to keep a positive attitude despite their son's tragic death.
"You've got to do something or you do nothing. That was just not the way we wanted to live the rest of our lives," he said.
The Ryce family created the Jimmy Ryce Center for Victims of Predatory Abduction -- a nonprofit based in Vero Beach that aims to increase public awareness and education regarding sexual predators, counseling for parents and victims, and trains law enforcement agencies in new ways to deal with such cases.
