Cynthia Sue Condra, a 24-year-old white female from Wright, Florida—a community near Fort Walton Beach—was brutally murdered on September 16, 1986. Her body was discovered in a wooded area off Lewis Turner Boulevard, having suffered 21 stab wounds. The nature of the attack was described by investigators as sexually motivated, consistent with other killings in the area during that time. Condra was a mother of three, and her death sent shockwaves through the local community, which had already been gripped by fear due to a string of violent crimes.
The investigation into Condra’s murder remained unresolved for several years until it was linked to a broader pattern of killings attributed to Frank Athen Walls, a white male serial killer who operated in Okaloosa County, Florida between 1985 and 1987. Walls, who was between the ages of 17 and 19 during his crime spree, was eventually arrested on July 24, 1987, following the double homicide of Edward Alger Jr. and Ann Louise Peterson. Evidence recovered from Walls’ trailer and confessions made during interrogations connected him to five murders, including that of Cynthia Sue Condra.
Walls admitted to killing Condra during a substantive interview with investigators in 1994, as part of a plea deal that also included confessions to the murders of 19-year-old white female Tommie Lou Whiddon and 47-year-old white female Audrey Gygi. These admissions came after Walls had already been convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Ann Peterson and life imprisonment for the murder of Edward Alger Jr. The plea deal ensured that Walls would not face additional death sentences for the other killings.
At the time of Condra’s murder, Walls had a history of criminal behavior, including voyeurism and cruelty to animals. He was performing community service for prior offenses when he committed his first murder. Investigators described all of Walls’ crimes as sexually motivated, and his actions left a lasting scar on the Fort Walton Beach area. He remains on death row at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida.
