In the 1970s and early 1980s Judias Buenoano,  reminiscent of the 1939 play “Arsenic and Old Lace,” poisoned her husbands, boyfriends, and even her own son with arsenic to collect on insurance policies that she had secretly taken out on them.

Judias Buenoano, a name she later gave herself from corrupted Spanish meaning “good year,” was born Judias Welty on April 4, 1943, in Quanah, Texas. Her mother died when she was four years old resulting in both her and her brother being sent to live with her grandparents. When her father remarried a woman with two children, she and her brother joined the extended family in Roswell, New Mexico. In what was probably her first display of aberrant behavior, she attacked her father, stepmother, and two stepbrothers in 1957.

She came before the court and at age 14 was sent to an adult prison in New Mexico. At the time, there were no juvenile courts or facilities. She eventually attended a reform school, graduating in 1960. She gave birth to her son Michael in 1961.

“Arsenic and Old Lace”

In 1962, Buenoano married James E. Goodyear, a U.S. Air Force sergeant hence the change of name to “Buenoano.” They lived in Orlando where they raised their son and daughter along with Michael who Goodyear adopted. In June 1971, Sergeant Goodyear returned to Orlando from a tour of duty in Vietnam. He became sick, experiencing nausea and vomiting. When hospitalized in September, he told doctors he had been ill with these symptoms for a couple of weeks. His condition weakened and he died on September 16th. The diagnosis was renal failure. No toxicological tests were performed at the autopsy since it was an attended death in a hospital. Following his death, she collected $33,000 from a life insurance policy and $62,000 from the veteran’s administration.

After Goodyear’s death, she lived with Bobby Joe Morris and moved to Colorado in 1977. While claiming to be his wife, she bought a life insurance policy on him. Morris became ill and died. His remains were later exhumed in 1984, after her arrest in later cases, and exams revealed acute arsenic poisoning.
In 1979, her son Michael Goodyear joined the Army. He became ill with symptoms similar to paraplegia and had been discharged into the care of his mother. Michael had been fitted with heavy metal leg braces to compensate for his disabilities. After taking out a life insurance policy on him, his mother took him on a canoe trip on May 13, 1980. The canoe tipped over and he sank to the bottom and drowned. Not exactly the mother of the year.

After Michael’s death, she opened a beauty salon in Gulf Breeze, Florida and began dating John Gentry in 1983. A month later, John got sick and began taking vitamin C capsules that she gave him. When he got progressively sick, he was admitted to a hospital with the same symptoms as the former Sergeant Goodyear. He apparently began to recover and was discharged. Of course, she began to give him the vitamin C capsules upon his release resulting in him developing the same symptoms again. Before he died of poisoning, his car mysteriously exploded with him surviving the blast. Apparently, he wasn’t dying as quickly as she wanted him to. By this time, the law enforcement authorities suspected Buenoano of attempted murder. A search of her home revealed wire and tape that matched the remains from the bomb in Gentry’s car.

Buenoano was charged with attempted murder of Gentry and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the car bombing. The fact that she had recently taken out a $510,000 life insurance policy on Gentry was introduced as evidence. The vitamin capsules she had given him were examined and found to contain paraformaldehyde.

Her son, James Goodyear, Jr., was charged as an accomplice with the prosecutor contending that he wired Gentry’s car with the bomb. He was acquitted in a separate trial. The bombing caused investigators to reopen the case of Michael’s death along with the deaths of James Goodyear and Bobby Joe Morris. All had been given arsenic. She was charged and convicted of Michael’s death and sentenced to life in prison in 1984. Subsequent investigations, involving previous victims, resulted in the death penalty.

Buenoano was also believed to have been involved in a 1974 murder in Alabama and in the 1980 death of yet another boyfriend, Gerald Dossett. After numerous appeals, she was executed on March 30, 1998, at the Florida State Prison at Raiford.

Florida State Prison

The rural counties southwest of Jacksonville are speckled with Florida Department of Corrections facilities. Driving south, as you enter Bradford County, you will arrive at the Florida State Prison at Raiford that was constructed in 1960. The Reception and Medical Center is in nearby Union County. It’s a rural area with two-lane roads surrounded by farms and cattle ranches. When you approach the prison, if you ignore the fences, it could be a factory or industrial area with few people in sight.

Having been invited to tour death row and the execution chamber as part of this article, I was met by Director John Palmer and Warden David Allen. Entering the prison involves going through a series of checkpoints. Even the Director and Warden are searched and registered with a biometric device. After entering, my first observance was a very wide hallway that was spotless with the floors buffed and polished. The bars and metal connections were all painted with no rust. Given the widely known fact that the Department of Corrections is severely short staffed, this was a testament to good management.

Director Palmer explained the execution process as we walked. Prior to 1923, the counties carried out the execution process by hanging. The Department of Corrections has three phases for the execution process. Phase I is from the time the death warrant is signed until seven days before the execution. Several administrative issues are accomplished during this time including visits from family. Phase II begins seven days before the execution. The condemned is offered a choice between the electric chair or lethal injection. This choice is only offered within 30 days from affirmation of the death sentence by the Supreme Court. Inmates cannot make a separate selection outside of that window. Phase III was added after the lethal injection method was added. The condemned is monitored vis-à-vis by a confidential staff member with entries made in a log every 15 minutes. No visitors are added to the approved visitor list during this phase. Most of the condemned person’s property is restricted and controlled. A final meal is provided before the execution. Menu requests are honored, providing the food can be purchased locally and not exceed $40. Spiritual advisor visits, along with the final visit from loved ones, occur the day before the execution.

Compassion, Dignity and Professionalism

During all the phases the Director and Warden visit the condemned, sometimes several times a day. The purpose is not only to evaluate the person but also to demonstrate compassion in the form of human contact to preserve a form of dignity for the condemned.

On the day of the execution, the condemned person is given a last shower, placed in a holding cell, and offered a sedative. A confidential staff member maintains direct visual contact making entries in a log every 15 minutes. A telephone is located next to the confidential staff member in case there is a last-minute reprieve from the governor. At the prescribed time, the condemned is walked to the execution chamber.

My first impression of the execution chamber was surprise. I expected a dark room. It resembled a surgical theater with pristine white walls, polished floor, and high illumination. The leather strapped gurney was positioned facing the witness room. The electric chair, historically known as “old sparky” and built by inmates decades ago, was positioned by the wall. The electric chair is removed from the room during lethal injections.

There is a telephone with a direct line to the governor’s office. A call is made to the governor to see if there has been a last-minute stay. The governor, in turn, calls the Attorney General and the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court to ensure that no last-minute appeals have been filed. The names of all members of the execution team are confidential by statute. The control room, where the injections are administered or the electric current is switched on, has windows to view the chamber.

The witnesses are brought into the witness room via a separate door. They may include the news media, members of the victim’s family and law enforcement personnel. The witness room curtain is lowered while the condemned is brought into the room, strapped down and catheters placed in each arm. After the curtain is raised, the order to carry out the sentence if given. A lethal injection involves three sets of chemicals, each followed by a saline wash. If the electric chair is used, three jolts of electric current, with pauses between each jolt, are administered.

At the conclusion of the procedure, a physician pronounces the condemned dead. A call is made to the governor reporting that the sentence of the court has been carried out. The body is taken to the regional medical examiner for an autopsy for complete transparency. The remains are then turned over to the family or otherwise disposed of.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Director Palmer and Warden Allen for their gracious cooperation in conducting research for this article. My intent is to educate our readers of the execution process but also of the dignity afforded the condemned and compassion shown by the Department of Corrections staff.

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