VERO BEACH, Fla. – The father of Jimmy Ryce spoke Friday afternoon about the newly scheduled execution date of his son's killer.
Jimmy Ryce was kidnapped, raped and murdered almost 20 years ago in rural Miami-Dade County. Gov. Rick Scott signed a death warrant Thursday for Juan Carlos Chavez, who was convicted in 1998.
Jimmy had just left his school bus when Chavez kidnapped him. He raped the boy and held him at gunpoint, finally shooting him as he tried to escape. Chavez then dismembered the boy's body and sealed the remains in planters filled with concrete.
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On Friday afternoon, Don Ryce met with with members of the media from his home in Vero Beach, breaking down several times while speaking about his son, his wife and his daughter.
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Jimmy's mother, Claudine Ryce, died of a heart attack in 2009. In Dec. 2012, his sister, Martha Ryce, committed suicide in Atlanta.
"In a world where it seems like you can get away with just about anything, and be forgiven, this is one of the few times when even our society says, 'Your crime was so great, so evil, so heinous, that you have forfeited the right to live,'" Don Ryce said Friday.
Chavez is scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 12. Don Ryce said he will attend the execution.