Former Melbourne police officer Otto Lenke sentenced to death for killing Fort Pierce motorcycle shop owner

A St. Lucie County judge on Wednesday, Oct. 14, sentenced Otto Lenke, a former Melbourne police officer and retired Indian River County firefighter paramedic, to death for the February 2021 killing of Fort Pierce motorcycle shop owner Richard Benson. Circuit Judge Michael Linn imposed the sentence at the St. Lucie County Courthouse in Fort Pierce, months after a jury convicted Lenke and voted 11-1 to recommend execution.

Lenke, of Sebastian, was convicted in May of first-degree murder with a firearm and first-degree arson of a structure. Prosecutors said he shot Benson inside Benson's shop, Fast Frank's, then poured denatured alcohol over him and set him on fire while he was still alive. In addition to the death sentence, Linn ordered Lenke to serve 30 years in prison on the arson conviction, according to TCPalm. News outlets have reported Lenke's age as both 66 and 67.

The judge's findings

In his written sentencing order, Linn found the evidence "overwhelming" that the murder was committed in a premeditated manner, CBS12 reported. According to TCPalm, the judge described the killing as carried out in "one of the most heinous, atrocious, and cruel ways imaginable," and wrote that Lenke had executed a cold and calculated plan.

Under Florida law, the jury's recommendation is not the final word; the trial judge decides whether to impose death or life in prison without parole, giving the jury's vote great weight. Since 2023, Florida has allowed a death sentence when at least eight of 12 jurors recommend it, one of the lowest thresholds in the country. In Lenke's case, the vote was 11-1, well above that minimum.

The Legislature lowered the threshold from a unanimous jury in 2023, after a jury that was not unanimous spared the life of the gunman who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Lenke's 11-1 vote would have fallen short under the unanimity rule in place before that change, which means the 2023 law was decisive in making a death sentence possible in this case.

Assistant State Attorney Brandon White, who prosecuted the case, told WPTV that justice was served and that he was pleased this part of the legal process was over. Lenke's court-appointed attorneys declined to comment, TCPalm reported.

A killing near police headquarters

Benson's body was found on Feb. 17, 2021, inside his motorcycle repair shop in Fort Pierce, according to TCPalm. WPTV noted that the shop sits just down the street from the Fort Pierce Police Department's headquarters.

Prosecutors said Benson was shot three times, including in the back, before he was doused with an accelerant and set on fire. Jurors were shown surveillance video of the attack during the trial in May. Investigators recovered three .40-caliber cartridge casings and cans of paint thinner at the scene, TCPalm reported.

How investigators built the case

Lenke was arrested two days after the killing. According to TCPalm, the case against him rested largely on circumstantial evidence, including cellphone location data, images of his car captured by surveillance cameras along U.S. 1 and a .40-caliber handgun recovered from the Indian River Lagoon. Investigators could not prove the gun pulled from the lagoon was the murder weapon.

Prosecutors told jurors the killing was planned. According to reports on the trial, they said Lenke drove a car belonging to a relative that people would not associate with him, and that he cut up the gun and disposed of the pieces.

A key witness was Lisa Diggs, a former girlfriend of Lenke's who was dating Benson at the time of the killing. She identified Lenke in the surveillance video and testified at trial, TCPalm reported. Prosecutors argued the motive was jealousy, saying the end of Diggs' relationship with Lenke and her new relationship with Benson set his plan in motion.

In 2021, Lenke told investigators he had not been in Fort Pierce on the day of the killing and did not know Benson, according to TCPalm. He did not testify in his own defense at trial.

Conviction and penalty phase

The guilt phase of the trial ended in May, when jurors deliberated less than three hours before finding Lenke guilty of both counts, CBS12 reported. The same jury then heard several days of penalty-phase testimony from both sides before voting on a sentence.

The defense asked jurors to spare Lenke's life and recommend life without parole, citing his mental health history, cognitive impairments and a traumatic childhood, according to CBS12. A defense expert testified that an MRI of Lenke's brain showed signs of scarring.

The jury found that the state had proven several aggravating factors, including that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel; that it was cold, calculated and premeditated; and that it was committed during another felony, the arson, TCPalm reported. Jurors returned their 11-1 recommendation for death on May 21.

The key steps in the case are below.

From police officer to defendant

Lenke's public-service career spanned more than three decades on Florida's Space and Treasure coasts. He served as a Melbourne police officer from December 1980 to December 1995, when he medically retired, according to TCPalm. He joined the Indian River County Fire Department in 1999 and resigned as a firefighter paramedic in May 2016.

While awaiting sentencing, Lenke was held at the St. Lucie County Jail, where CBS12 reported that another inmate was accused of attacking him.

What's next

Lenke will be transferred to the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections. Because he was sentenced to death, his conviction and sentence will automatically be appealed to the Florida Supreme Court. That review typically takes years, and no execution date can be set until the appeals process runs its course and a governor signs a death warrant. Florida carried out a record number of executions in 2025 under Gov. Ron DeSantis, but cases on direct appeal are not eligible for a warrant.