John Couey dies awaiting execution

Convicted child killer John Couey died this morning of natural causes, sparing the state of Florida from having to execute him for the murder of Jessica Lunsford.

Florida Corrections spokesperson Gretl Plessinger said Couey died "at 11:15 a.m. today at a local hospital," but declined to offer specifics, citing privacy laws.

Couey was housed at the Florida State Prison near Starke, awaiting execution for the 2005 kidnapping, rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica.

• Archived coverage of the John Couey trial

Jessica's family said they were relieved to hear of Couey's death. The news arrived in the form of two phone calls, they said -- one from the prison where Couey was housed, and another from the Florida Attorney General's office.

Mark Lunsford said it "would have been nice" to see his daughter's killer be executed, but he welcomed the news anyway.

"Makes me kind of happy," he conceded. "I don't know if anybody thinks that's sick and twisted but it makes me happy he's dead."

Lunsford's parents said were concerned the appeal process would take so long, they might not live to see Couey put to death.

"It's over, it's done. We won't have to worry about him. The county and the state don't have to support him anymore," said Jessica's grandmother, Ruth Lunsford.

But they say there are many scars left over, not only from their granddaughter's death, but from the trial, and the appeals process.

"It hurts," Archie Lunsford offered.

Couey was convicted in 2007 of kidnapping, raping and killing Jessica. The last time anyone saw her alive was when she went to bed on a February evening in 2005.

The next morning, her father discovered she was missing, sparking a massive search that would ultimately end in tragedy.

Investigators zeroed in on John Evander Couey, a sexual offender living in the area. It turned out he had not registered as a sex offender, and a warrant was put out for his arrest.

On March 17, 2005, he was arrested in Augusta, Georgia. Two days later, investigators found Jessica in a shallow grave outside Couey's sister's mobile home. The medical examiner later said she died of suffocation after being buried alive.

Couey was charged with first-degree murder. He confessed to kidnapping Jessica from her room, raping her and locking her in a closet before burying her.

Couey's trial took place in Miami in 2007. When the jury found him guilty, Jessica's father silently glared at Couey as his eyes glistened with tears.

Couey was sentenced to death.

Mark Lunsford has since become an advocate for tougher laws against sex predators, leading the way for changes in state law that require stricter monitoring of offenders.

"It's a burden off the state," Lunsford continued. "It ain't nothin' to jump up and down about just because he's dead. There's 650,000 more that's registered in the United States. I'm not saying all of them need to die, but hey, this is only one."

Jessica's grandparents said officials told them Couey died of complications from anal cancer.

"When I look back, I think about when they sentenced him. I told him I hope he spends every day of his life hearing that little girl cry and seeing her tears," Lunsford added, beginning to tear up. "I hope he died that way."