Robert Austin Sullivan was born on July 20, 1947, in Boston, Massachusetts. Just two weeks after his birth, he was adopted by a couple from Nashua, New Hampshire. His adoptive parents eventually divorced, and Sullivan spent most of his upbringing with his adoptive mother in Belmont, Massachusetts.

There is limited information available about Sullivan’s early schooling or adolescent years, but by the early 1970s, he had relocated to Florida, where he briefly held employment at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Homestead. He worked there for about eight months in 1972 as an assistant manager, indicating a certain level of trust and responsibility given to him.

On the evening of April 8, 1973, Robert Sullivan and an accomplice, Reid McLaughlin, went to the Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Homestead, Florida. Sullivan had previously worked at this same location the year before as an assistant manager. That night, they encountered Donald Schmidt, a 38-year-old man who had since taken on the assistant manager role.

Sullivan and McLaughlin abducted Schmidt from the restaurant. His hands were bound behind his back with tape, and he was taken to a remote swamp area in the Everglades. Once there, he was forced to the ground, struck with a tire iron, and shot four times in the back of the head with a 12-gauge shotgun. They stole his credit cards and wristwatch before fleeing the scene.

Nine days later, on April 17, 1973, Sullivan was arrested by police. Authorities discovered several critical pieces of evidence in Sullivan’s possession, including the murder weapon, handgun, tire iron, tape, and the victim’s personal belongings. Sullivan reportedly confessed and implicated McLaughlin in the crime. McLaughlin, in turn, also confessed but made a deal with prosecutors—he received life imprisonment in exchange for his testimony against Sullivan.

Sullivan would later retract his confession, claiming it had been made while he was intoxicated and under duress. He also argued that his defense attorney failed to contact alibi witnesses who could place him at a gay bar at the time of the murder. Sullivan claimed that the motive behind the robbery was to pay off a blackmailer who had threatened to expose his sexuality to his father.

Despite his protests, Sullivan was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death on November 12, 1973.

For the next decade, Sullivan remained on Florida’s death row. During this time, he became the longest-serving inmate awaiting execution in the United States. Initially scheduled to be executed in June 1979, his life was temporarily spared when a federal judge issued a stay. However, legal appeals ultimately ran out.

His pending execution drew national and international attention. Pope John Paul II made a personal appeal for clemency, asking Florida Governor Bob Graham to spare Sullivan’s life. Despite this, the governor rejected the request, and the execution was set.

On November 30, 1983, at age 36, Robert Austin Sullivan was executed in the electric chair at Florida State Prison, becoming the second person executed in Florida after the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty, following John Spenkelink. His last meal included steak, French fries, fresh strawberries, and milk.