VERO BEACH — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for William Reaves Jr., convicted of fatally shooting Indian River County Sheriff’s Cpl. Richard Raczkoski nearly 40 years ago.
Reaves, 77, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Oct. 20 at Florida State Prison in Raiford. The warrant runs through noon Oct. 27.
Sheriff Eric Flowers said the governor’s office notified him Friday morning that the warrant had been signed.
“The execution of Reaves is long overdue,” Flowers told Sebastian Daily. “This week is the 40th anniversary of the death of Cpl. Richard ‘Raz’ Raczkoski. For 40 years Reaves has lived while justice for Raz waited. On October 20th I will be in attendance to make sure the last thing Reaves sees is an Indian River County Sheriff’s Office uniform.”
Raczkoski, 29, was shot about 3 a.m. Sept. 23, 1986, after he answered a 911 call at a Zippy Mart on State Road 60 west of Vero Beach. Reaves had called from a pay phone because he did not have money for a cab, court records show.
While the two men talked, a .38-caliber pistol fell from Reaves’ shorts. Raczkoski put his knee on the gun. Reaves shoved him aside, grabbed the pistol and pointed it at the deputy. As Raczkoski reached for his own weapon, Reaves told him, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” according to court records.
Raczkoski backed up, turned and ran. Reaves fired seven shots and hit him four times, including in the back. Raczkoski died a short time later.
Reaves went to a friend’s apartment and said he had just shot a police officer. The friend later testified that Reaves quoted the deputy as saying, “Don’t shoot me. Don’t shoot me. Don’t kill me,” before the shots were fired.
Deputies arrested Reaves two days later at a bus stop in Albany, Georgia. He told investigators he was high on cocaine and did not want to go back to prison.
A jury convicted him of first-degree murder in 1987. The Florida Supreme Court threw out that verdict in 1991 because a prosecutor on the case had previously represented Reaves. A second jury found him guilty in February 1992 and recommended death on a 10-2 vote. He was sentenced March 6, 1992.
Appeals in state and federal court stretched on for decades. Clemency was considered and denied. Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote that the record supported a death warrant and that no court stay was in place.
Raczkoski was the first Indian River County deputy killed on duty. No other county deputy died in the line of duty until Nov. 21, 2025, when Sgt. Terri Sweeting-Mashkow was shot while serving an eviction notice near Vero Beach.
The section of State Road 60 between Interstate 95 and 43rd Avenue is marked as the Richard Raczkoski Memorial Highway. The Sheriff’s Office also put a restored 1986 Ford Crown Victoria on the road in March 2024 in his name, and he was among the officers honored at a Police Week ceremony outside the county courthouse that May.
Flowers wrote DeSantis in May 2024 asking him to sign a warrant and pressed the case again last summer. Raczkoski’s parents have died. His brother is still living. His only son, Matthew, was born after the shooting and never met his father.
The 40th anniversary of the killing is Wednesday.