Juan Carlos Chavez was born on March 16, 1967, in Cuba. He arrived in South Florida in 1991 after fleeing his home country on a raft with two other people. He was seeking a new life in the United States.

After settling in Florida, Chavez found work as a farmhand. He later took a job as a handyman for the Scheinhaus family. While working for them, he lived in a trailer located on their property. Information about his family and early life in Cuba is limited and not well-documented.

Chavez's life took a dark turn in the mid-1990s. Around this time, Susan Scheinhaus, the matriarch of the family he worked for, began to notice several items missing from her home, including a handgun and some jewelry. She became suspicious of Chavez, although there was no solid evidence against him at that moment. Susan consulted a psychic, which fueled her concerns.

On December 5, 1995, she and a locksmith entered Chavez's trailer to investigate. They discovered the missing handgun and a bookbag belonging to a young boy named Jimmy Ryce. This prompted Susan to report her findings to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A day later, Chavez was located and brought in for questioning. After being informed of his rights, he underwent an extensive interrogation for 55 hours. During this time, Chavez confessed to serious crimes involving Jimmy Ryce. He provided details that would lead authorities to evidence related to his confession.

On the afternoon of September 11, 1995, nine-year-old Samuel James "Jimmy" Ryce was returning home from school in Redland, Florida. Dropped off by the school bus just a block from his home, Jimmy never made it to his front door. According to Chavez’s confession, he intercepted the boy by blocking his path with his pickup truck and abducted him at gunpoint. He then took Jimmy to a nearby trailer on the Scheinhaus property, where Chavez lived and worked. Once there, he sexually assaulted the child. Hours later, when Chavez believed law enforcement helicopters were nearby, Jimmy attempted to flee. In a panic, Chavez shot the boy in the back as he reached for the door. He then reportedly held the child as he died, before dismembering and decapitating the body to conceal the evidence.

The case went unsolved for nearly three months, until Chavez’s employer, Susan Scheinhaus, reported suspicious items missing from her home—including a handgun and jewelry. She entered Chavez’s trailer with the help of a locksmith, discovering her stolen firearm along with Jimmy Ryce’s schoolbook bag. On December 5, 1995, she alerted the FBI. Chavez was located and taken into custody the following day. After a prolonged 55-hour interrogation, Chavez confessed in detail to the abduction, rape, and murder of Jimmy Ryce. He also led police to the boy’s remains, which had been sealed inside three plastic planters and encased in concrete.

In the fall of 1998, Chavez was convicted in a Florida court of first-degree murder, capital sexual battery, and kidnapping. He was sentenced to death, and his conviction was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court on November 21, 2002. Over the following decade, Chavez pursued a series of appeals and post-conviction motions, including claims of ineffective counsel and constitutional violations. These appeals were repeatedly denied at both the state and federal levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied certiorari.

On January 2, 2014, Governor Rick Scott signed Chavez’s death warrant. He was executed by lethal injection on February 12, 2014, at 8:17 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Raiford. He declined to give a spoken final statement but issued a written note invoking forgiveness and divine blessing for all involved in his execution.

Jimmy Ryce’s tragic death left a lasting mark on Florida and the broader United States, leading to the passage of the Jimmy Ryce Act in 1998. This legislation created a civil commitment system for sexually violent predators who might reoffend, mandating post-incarceration evaluations and secure treatment. While the act aimed to prevent similar crimes, its associated facility—the Florida Civil Commitment Center—later faced criticism for understaffing, underfunding, and limited therapeutic outcomes. Still, the case of Jimmy Ryce remains one of the most horrifying and influential child abduction cases in Florida’s history, and the justice system's pursuit of Chavez became emblematic of broader reforms in sex offender legislation and post-prison surveillance.