Teri Lynn Matthews, a 26-year-old woman, was tragically murdered on December 5, 1986. She was abducted from a post office in Pasco County, just north of Tampa, Florida. Matthews' body was discovered later, and it was determined that she had been brutally stabbed. The case remained unsolved for several years until an anonymous tip in 1990 led authorities to Oscar Ray Bolin, a former carnival worker who was already serving a prison sentence in Ohio for kidnapping and raping a 20-year-old
waitress.
Oscar Ray Bolin was convicted of the murders of three women, including Teri Lynn Matthews. Bolin was sentenced to death for the killing of Matthews, as well as for the murders of 17-year-old Stephanie Collins and 25-year-old Natalie Holley. All three women were stabbed. Bolin's conviction for Holley's murder was later reduced to second-degree murder due to legal errors during the trial. Despite Bolin's claims of innocence and allegations that evidence was tampered with or planted, he was executed by lethal injection on January 7, 2016, at Florida State Prison in Starke.
During the trial, Bolin's younger half-brother testified that he had witnessed Bolin beating Matthews and attempting to drown her with a garden hose. Matthews' mother, Kathleen Reeves, and the families of the other victims were present for Bolin's execution. Reeves expressed relief that justice had finally been served, stating that Bolin's execution brought closure to her daughter's murder.
Bolin's case garnered significant media attention, partly due to his marriage to Rosalie Martinez, a paralegal who had worked on his defense team. Martinez divorced her prominent Tampa attorney husband and married Bolin in 1996, ten years after the murders. She maintained that Bolin was innocent and became an outspoken opponent of the death penalty. Despite her efforts, Bolin's appeals were ultimately unsuccessful, and he was executed for the murder of Teri Lynn Matthews and the other victims.
