Murder of Sally Ivester

Rare card · No. 67286

On March 30, 1976, 23-year-old Georgia resident Sally Ivester was murdered in a motel in North Miami Beach, Florida, by William Lee Thompson (born February 19, 1952) and Rocco James Surace (1944 or 1954 – November 14, 1993). The two men demanded that Ivester obtain money from her family. After she gave them $25 — far less than the promised sum of $200 to $300 — they tortured her and killed her. The murder was witnessed by a woman who was being held in the same room as Ivester. Thompson and Surace were arrested, charged with, and convicted of first-degree murder, and both were sentenced to death. Surace appealed his conviction and was granted a new trial, at which he was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. He died in prison in 1993. Thompson’s death sentence was overturned twice before being reinstated after resentencing trials in 1978 and 1989, respectively. He remains on death row as of 2026.

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