Hitchhiker’s Slayer Executed in Florida

STARKE, Fla. —  Roy Allen Harich, who shot and killed a teen-age hitchhiker and attempted to kill her friend, died in Florida’s electric chair Wednesday.

Harich’s execution came on his third death warrant since 1986, the first such order signed by Gov. Lawton Chiles. Earlier warrants by Govs. Bob Graham and Bob Martinez were blocked by the courts.

Harich, 32, an Ohio native living in Volusia County, was sentenced to death for the June 26, 1981, slaying of Carlene Gail Kelly, 18, of High Springs. She and a friend, Deborah Miller, then 17, were hitchhiking near Daytona Beach when Harich offered them a ride.

He drove the women to a secluded, wooded area to smoke some marijuana. Early the next day, he shot both women in the back of the head and slashed their throats. Miller survived and testified against Harich.