At the time of the murders, Tafero was on parole for a 1967 attempted rape conviction, after allegedly holding two women hostage.

[2][3] On the morning of February 20, 1976, Black and Irwin approached a car parked at a rest stop for a routine check.

Tafero, his wife Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs, their two children (ages 9 years and 10 months) and Walter Rhodes were found asleep inside.

[6][7] Rhodes entered into a plea agreement for a reduced sentence of second degree murder in exchange for his testimony against Tafero and Jacobs.

Because there was no death row for women in Florida, Jacobs was put into solitary confinement for the first five years of her imprisonment and let out only once or twice a week for exercise.

[citation needed] It has been rumored that Tafero's death served as inspiration for author Stephen King when he wrote the execution of Eduard Delacroix in his novel The Green Mile.

[citation needed] The case became a cause célèbre among death penalty opponents, who cited the brutal circumstances of Tafero's execution as reasons it should be abolished.

Filmmaker Micki Dickoff made a crime drama on the case entitled In the Blink of an Eye, which aired as an ABC Movie of the Week in 1996.

[14] In 2011, Jacobs married Peter Pringle, who had been exonerated after being convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in the Republic of Ireland.