Leo Boatman

2006 Ocala National Forest murders On January 4, 2006, Leo Boatman killed two campers, John Parker and Amber Peck, in the Ocala National Forest, Florida.

Boatman, armed with an AK-47 rifle stolen from his friend, was hiking into the forest when he encountered two campers, Amber Peck and John Parker, who were both 26 and students of Santa Fe Community College. At first, the encounter had been cordial, with Parker giving directions for Boatman, who later aimed the rifle at the pair. As the two campers ran, Boatman chased them to a remote camping ground near Juniper Springs, and ultimately, Boatman shot the two of them dead. At the time of his deaths, Parker was a former Marine who had an eight-year-old daughter, while Peck, who joined the same school environment club as Parker, was originally from Michigan and planned to move to Australia to attend James Cook University.

Two days after Parker and Peck were murdered, their families conducted a search in the forest and the authorities were contacted as well. Amber Peck's father found her car on January 6, 2006, and Parker's friends and family managed to reach the campground where the victims were killed. Several police officers discovered the bodies disposed of in shallow waters near the edge of the campsite. Autopsy findings showed that Peck had been shot in the right arm, left biceps and both sides of her head, while there were multiple gunshot wounds in Parker's right shoulder, right foot, his left biceps and the right side of his neck.

On July 30, 2007, Boatman pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder for killing both Parker and Peck. As a condition of the plea bargain, the prosecution took the death penalty off the table and instead, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. According to State Attorney Brad King, they agreed to not seek the death penalty and made the plea offer based on the wishes of the victims' families.

The families of Peck and Parker were allowed to give victim impact statements regarding the case, and they stated they hoped for a swift end to the prosecution of Boatman. Amber Peck's parents stated that their daughter would not want her killer to be executed. Parker's mother stated that her son was a "caring father and son" and also loved the forest.

2009 and 2010 prison crimes, second and third trial On March 21, 2009, while imprisoned at the Cross City Correctional Institution, Boatman attempted to kill another prisoner, 34-year-old Mark Apicella (nicknamed "Apple Sauce"), who was serving time for theft, organized fraud and cocaine possession. Boatman hung Apicella by the neck with bedsheets, forcibly feeding him blood-pressure medication until correction officers intervened, saving Apicella's life. Boatman was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and had seven more years added to his double life sentence. Boatman purportedly claimed he never intended to kill Apicella, although the latter told the authorities Boatman was upset with him for receiving more mail than he himself did.

On August 18, 2010, while at the Charlotte Correctional Institution, Leo Boatman murdered his cellmate. Boatman attacked 27-year-old Ricky Morris, beating him and slamming his head down on the concrete floor. According to Inspector Kevin Michael Ortiz, when he arrived at the cell he witnessed Boatman continuing to beat Morris while he was bleeding and lying facedown. Morris did not die immediately from the wounds sustained during the attack; he was hospitalized for a month before he died in a coma on September 19, 2010, 17 days after his 28th birthday. At the time of his murder, Morris was serving two consecutive life terms without parole for the first-degree murder of his parents, Raymond and Deborah Morris, who were both shot to death on February 3, 2008.

On January 21, 2011, it was confirmed that Boatman would be charged with the murder of Morris. On August 15, 2013, the jury found Boatman guilty of a lesser charge of third-degree murder. Boatman was sentenced to 15 additional years in prison for the offence.

2019 murder of William Chapman On May 3, 2019, Boatman, together with convicted serial killer William Edward Wells, attacked and murdered 32-year-old William Chapman. (According to official sources, Chapman was sentenced to nine years' jail for multiple counts of theft and burglary.) In one case, Chapman and another man stole a woman's purse after breaking into her car, while in another case, Chapman broke into another woman's home and stole $6,000 worth of property, including jewelry, a laptop, a game console and a handgun. A month prior to the killing, the pair first hatched the plot to kill Chapman, as Wells believed that Chapman wanted to recruit him for sexual favours.

Wells, Boatman, Chapman, and several other inmates were first escorted to the dayroom. Shortly after, both Boatman and Wells lured Chapman to a specific corner of the dayroom—a spot intentionally chosen because it was the CCTV camera's blind spot. Wells then produced a concealed ligature and began strangling Chapman while Boatman simultaneously started to beat him. As the assault continued, Boatman blocked the dayroom door to prevent corrections officers from intervening, while Wells continued to stab and beat Chapman. On that same day, State Attorney Bill Cervone confirmed that he would seek the death penalty for Wells and Boatman, and he described the murder to be "brutal, exceedingly brutal".

Both Wells and Boatman were tried separately for Chapman's murder. Wells was first put on trial on February 26, 2020, when he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Wells was sentenced to death by Judge Mark W. Moseley on May 25, 2021. He is currently incarcerated on death row at the Union Correctional Institution.

Boatman was the second of the pair to stand trial for murdering Chapman. He was found guilty by a Brevard County jury for first-degree murder on August 29, 2022.

On November 10, 2022, Boatman was sentenced to death by Judge James M. Colaw, after he waived his right to be sentenced by a jury.

On October 17, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court denied Leo Boatman's appeal against his death sentence.

As of 2025, Boatman is incarcerated on death row at the Union Correctional Institution.