STARKE, Fla. — The search for the man who killed Deputy Richard “Raz” Raczkoski stretched from a Treasure Coast convenience store to a Melbourne hotel and, eventually, a bus trip to Georgia.
Forty years later, William Reaves Jr. is scheduled to be executed Tuesday, Oct. 20, for the killing of the 29-year-old Indian River County deputy. His execution is set for 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Raiford.
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Raczkoski was answering a 911 call at a Zippy Mart near Vero Beach early on Sept. 23, 1986, when he encountered Reaves. According to court records, Reaves had called after being unable to get a taxi.
As the two spoke, a gun fell from Reaves’ shorts. A struggle followed, and Reaves grabbed the weapon. When Raczkoski backed away and turned to run, Reaves fired, striking him four times.
The shooting set off a manhunt that reached into Brevard County.
According to the station’s archival reporting, Reaves hid at a Melbourne hotel for a day before boarding a Greyhound bus bound for Albany, Georgia. Authorities caught him there and returned him to Florida.
File footage captures that return, along with the convenience store where Raczkoski was shot and the search that followed. A black-and-white photograph shows the deputy known as “Raz,” whose killing is now the subject of an execution scheduled four decades later.
Reaves, now 77, was convicted and sentenced to death. His family has asked Gov. Ron DeSantis for clemency, pointing to his military service in Vietnam and mental health history.
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