{{Short description|American spree killer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox spree killer | name = Robert Dale Henderson | birth_date = {{birth date|1945|03|14|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Missouri]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1993|04|21|1945|03|14|mf=y}} | death_place = [[Florida State Prison]], Florida, U.S. | conviction = [[First degree murder]] (5 counts) | sentence = [[Capital punishment|Death]] | victims = 12 | beginyear = January 14, 1982 | endyear = February 4, 1982 | country = United States | states = Ohio<br>South Carolina<br>Florida<br>Georgia<br>Mississippi<br>Louisiana | criminal_status = [[Executed]] by electrocution }} '''Robert Dale Henderson''' (March 14, 1945<ref name="a">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35170661/robert-dale-henderson-family-the/|title=The Man Remains A Mystery|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|location=[[Tampa, Florida]]|date=February 21, 1982|access-date=July 17, 2022|page=4|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35170959/robert-dale-henderson-set-to-die-the/|title=Multiple killer set to die|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|first=Rob|last=Chepak|location=[[Tampa, Florida]]|date=April 20, 1993|access-date=July 17, 2022|page=80|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> – April 21, 1993) was an American [[spree killer]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35170864/robert-dale-henderson-sentences-to/|title=High court upholds Henderson's death sentences|first=Jim|last=Walker|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|location=[[Tampa, Florida]]|date=January 11, 1985|access-date=July 17, 2022|page=27|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref name="b">{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/02/11/Confessed-mass-killer-Robert-Dale-Henderson-led-police-Thursday/1550382251600/|title=Confessed mass killer Robert Dale Henderson led police Thursday...|work=[[United Press International]]|date=February 11, 1982|access-date=July 17, 2022}}</ref> He murdered at least twelve victims.<ref name="b" />
== Early life == Henderson was born in Missouri, the son of Mary and Robert Henderson.<ref name="a" /> At the age of fifteen, he lived in [[Park Hills, Missouri]].<ref name="a" /> The Henderson family then moved to [[Poplar Bluff, Missouri]], after which his parents soon divorced.<ref name="c">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35170713/robert-dale-henderson-family-pg2/|title=Henderson|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|location=[[Tampa, Florida]]|date=February 21, 1982|access-date=July 17, 2022|page=4|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> He attended Cane Creek High School in Missouri, dropping out in 1962.<ref name="c" /> After dropping out, Henderson served in the [[United States Army]].<ref name="c" /> He had duties in [[Fort Polk South, Louisiana]], followed by a stint in Korea.<ref name="c" />
Henderson was discharged on May 14, 1964, for attacking an officer.<ref name="c" /> After being discharged, he worked numerous jobs.<ref name="c" /> In the 1970s, Henderson's residence was raided as part of an investigation into a suspected [[Cannabis (drug)|marijuana]] ring.<ref name="c" /> He also had stolen a driver's license in [[Brevard County, Florida]].<ref name="c" /> In 1977, Henderson committed a robbery in [[Laramie, Wyoming]], for which he was sent to the [[Wyoming State Penitentiary]] in October 1978.<ref name="c" /> He was later incarcerated in [[Robertson, Wyoming]].<ref name="c" />
Henderson was released in July 1981, moving into the home of tobacco farmer Ivan Barnett, his new wife's father.<ref name="c" />
== Murders == On January 14, 1982, he kidnapped, raped, and murdered [[Cosmetology#Esthetician|beautician]] Jerilyn Stanfield in [[Cincinnati]], Ohio.<ref name="d">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59762358/the-tampa-tribune/|title=A Man Leaves His Brutal Mark|first1=Bill|last1=Grueskin|first2=Neil|last2=Johnson|first3=Daniel|last3=McLaughlin|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|location=[[Tampa, Florida]]|date=February 21, 1982|access-date=July 17, 2022|page=1|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Henderson then murdered his in-laws, Ivan Barnett, his wife Marie, and their eleven-year-old son Clifford in [[Cherry Fork, Ohio]] on January 21, 1982.<ref name="d" /> Three days later, he murdered [[receptionist]] Lucinda Lee Russell in [[Charleston, South Carolina]].<ref name="d" /> On January 25, 1982, he murdered physician Murray Ferderber and [[retail clerk]] Dorothy Wilkinson<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/26/us/drifter-indicted-in-2-slayings.html|title=Drifter Indicted in 2 Slayings|author=[[Associated Press]]|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 26, 1982|access-date=July 17, 2022}}</ref> in [[Palatka, Florida]].<ref name="d" /> On the same date, Henderson raped a mother and a daughter in [[Valdosta, Georgia]].<ref name="d" /> Henderson then murdered Cheryl McDonald in [[Pascagoula, Mississippi]] on January 27, 1982.<ref name="d" />
Henderson murdered [[nightclub]] owner Sam Corrent in [[Port Allen, Louisiana]] on January 29, 1982.<ref name="d" /> He then murdered [[Hitchhiking|hitchhikers]] Robert Dawson, Frances Bell Dickey, and Vernon D. Odom<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32258650/robert-dale-henderson-serial-hitchhiker/|title=Murder victims include local man|work=The Clarksdale Press Register|location=[[Clarksdale, Mississippi]]|date=February 12, 1982|access-date=July 17, 2022|page=1|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> in [[Hernando County, Florida]] on February 4.<ref name="d" /> After having killed the 12 victims, Henderson approached a sheriff's deputy at a shopping center in [[Punta Gorda, Florida]] on February 6, 1982, and voluntarily surrendered.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-henderson-says/45347172/ "Drifter tells Fla. police of 13 killings"], ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', February 7, 1982, p.7-C</ref>
== Trial and execution == Despite his lawyers attempts to keep Henderson out of the [[electric chair]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35170824/robert-dale-henderson-trial-the-tampa/|title=Potential Jurors Quizzed For Trial Of Henderson|first=Daniel|last=McLaughlin|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|location=[[Tampa, Florida]]|date=November 9, 1982|access-date=July 17, 2022|page=67|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> he was given three death sentences.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35171084/robert-dale-henderson-given-death/|title=Henderson given three death sentences|first=Daniel|last=McLaughlin|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]|location=[[Tampa, Florida]]|date=November 23, 1982|access-date=July 17, 2022|page=28|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> Henderson's lawyers appealed once to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] for a [[new trial]], but the request was denied.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/22/us/florida-executes-killer-of-12.html|title=Florida Executes Killer of 12|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=[[Associated Press]]|date=April 22, 1993|access-date=July 17, 2022}}</ref>
Henderson was executed by [[electric chair]] on April 21, 1993, at the [[Florida State Prison]].<ref name="e">{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/04/21/Florida-executes-convicted-killer-Henderson/4223735364800/|title=Florida executes convicted killer Henderson|work=[[United Press International]]|date=April 21, 1993|access-date=July 17, 2022}}</ref> He was pronounced dead at 7:10 a.m.<ref name="e" />
== See also == * [[Capital punishment in Florida]] * [[Capital punishment in the United States]] * [[List of people executed in Florida]] * [[List of people executed in the United States in 1993]]
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Robert Dale}} [[Category:1945 births]] [[Category:1993 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century executions by Florida]] [[Category:Executed American mass murderers]] [[Category:Executed people from Missouri]] [[Category:Familicides in the United States]] [[Category:People convicted of murder by Florida]] [[Category:People executed by Florida by electric chair]] [[Category:1982 mass murders]] [[Category:1980s mass murders in the United States]] [[Category:Violence against women in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Violence against women in Ohio]] [[Category:Violence against women in South Carolina]] [[Category:20th-century American murderers]]