A Florida man convicted of the brutal 1990 murders of an 11-year-old girl and her mother’s friend has been sentenced to death, closing a case that remained cold for 26 years while he lived freely in the same community. Joseph Zieler, now 62, was found guilty last year of first-degree murder, sexual battery, and burglary for the killings of Robin Cornell and Lisa Story in Cape Coral.
The long-delayed justice culminated this week as the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Zieler’s direct appeal, a critical step before an execution date can be set. The court’s decision will hinge on complex legal questions, including the application of a new state law that lowered the threshold for jury death recommendations.
The crime that shattered a family’s life and haunted a city began on May 9, 1990. Jan Cornell kissed her daughter Robin goodnight and drove five minutes to her boyfriend’s house. Returning before dawn, she found her front door locked from the inside and her sliding glass door wide open.
Inside her ransacked apartment, she discovered the bodies of 11-year-old Robin and 32-year-old Lisa Story, a friend who had just moved in. Both victims had been sexually assaulted and suffocated. The killer left behind one crucial piece of evidence: his DNA.
For over a quarter-century, that DNA profile sat in an evidence file with no name attached. Meanwhile, Joseph Zieler built a life just miles away. He moved in with a girlfriend he met weeks after the murders, worked as a landscaper, and raised a family.
The break came not from a renewed cold case investigation, but from a domestic dispute. In 2016, Zieler shot his adult son with a pellet gun during an argument. His felony arrest required a DNA sample, which was entered into the national CODIS database.
It immediately matched the evidence from the 1990 crime scene. The probability the DNA belonged to anyone other than Zieler exceeded 1 in 83 quintillion, a figure so vast prosecutors told jurors the human mind cannot comprehend it.
At trial in 2023, Zieler mounted a bizarre defense. He claimed a motorcycle accident had erased his memory and, when confronted with the irrefutable DNA, alleged a non-existent prior relationship with Jan Cornell. He called her a “pig” from the witness stand.
The jury took just three hours to convict him on all counts. In the penalty phase, they heard of Zieler’s violent childhood and declining health but also of the heinous, premeditated nature of the crimes. They recommended death by a 10-2 vote.
At his sentencing hearing, Zieler violently attacked his own defense attorney, elbowing him in the head before bailiffs subdued him. Judge Robert Branning then imposed two death sentences, stating Zieler had “forfeited his right to live.”
The case now rests with the Florida Supreme Court. Zieler’s appeal argues the new death penalty law, requiring only eight jurors to recommend death instead of a unanimous vote, should not apply as his trial began before its passage.
For Jan Cornell and Lisa Story’s fiancé, Randy Richards, the legal proceedings are a final hurdle in a 33-year quest for justice. “He will never see a free moment,” Cornell said after sentencing. “He will never hurt another individual on this earth.”
Florida maintains one of the nation’s most active execution chambers. Barring a successful appeal, Joseph Zieler is destined to join the queue on death row, his fate sealed by the DNA he left behind in a dark apartment a lifetime ago.
Source: YouTube