DeFede

MIAMI SHORES (CBS4) ― Jean Trach has lived the past 25 years wondering when John Marek would escape from prison and kill her the way he killed her best friend.

"I thought if he escapes this is the first place he's coming," she said recently. "I was the chief witness for both trials."

The thought, she added, "keeps you awake."

Marek, the man who killed her best friend in 1983 -- the man she testified against in 1984 – was executed Wednesday evening as scheduled. For Trach, Marek's end cannot come soon enough.

"In my opinion he's taken too much time out of my life," said Trach, who lives in Miami Shores.

Jean's story is a tale of two friends.

Jean Trach and Adela Simmons met while working at Barry University.

Their kids went to the same school. They even planned their vacations together.

But while Jean was cautious around strangers, Adela was far more trusting.

"She was fearless," Trach said.

And never did that difference come more into play than on June 16, 1983. The two women were driving home after spending a few days in Clearwater.

It was late, around 11 p.m., when their car broke down on the Florida Turnpike near Fort Pierce.

"We pulled over and this truck pulled over but he went ahead of us and made a turn so that his headlights were shining on our car," Trach said.

Two men in the early twenties emerged: Ray Wigley, who never said a word, and John Marek.

"He had a T-shirt on, he had jeans on, and he has a red scarf around his neck, a patterned scarf," Trach recalled.

Marek offered to give the women a ride to a service station.

"And I said we're not going with you and Adela said, `Jean, come on, what are you going to do, sit here all night?' I said, `I don't care Adela, we're not going,'" Trach recalled. "I just got this vibe. I was very uneasy. I wanted them out of there. I wanted them to leave, to go away. He was about this far away from Adela, so I said we're not going. I didn't care what he thought; I said we're not going. So we hemmed and hawed between us and then she said, `I'll go with him.' She said, 'You know Jean, you've got to trust somebody sometime.' And that was the last time I saw her."

The next morning, just after sunrise, Jerry Kasper climbed into a lifeguard shack on Dania Beach.

What he discovered would change his life forever.

It was a woman's body, she was naked and she had been tortured. She had a red bandana scarf tied around her neck.

On a recent sunny day, Kasper returned to the beach where he found Adela Simmons.

"It was obvious the brutality that was done to her," Kasper said. "The torment and the look of horror on her face. Those knots were so tight I would have needed a knife to cut them off."

He still struggles with the emotion of what he saw.

"Anytime I see a red bandana scarf on anybody I have a serious flashback and breakdown crying," he said, the emotion evident in his voice.

Back along the turnpike that night, a Florida Trooper had picked up Jean. Not knowing what had happened, they searched for Adela at the next rest stop.

By the time Jean got home, the police were waiting for her.

"You don't want to believe it," Trach said. "But you have a policeman telling you something and you have a state trooper, and they're telling you that she's been found and she's dead and she was tortured and beaten and raped and strangled, and oh, with the same scarf that was around his neck, so you have to believe it."

In less than 24 hours, Marek and Wigley were caught outside of Daytona Beach. Inside their truck police found Adela's jewelry.

Detective Tim Cates drove up to interview the two suspects. Marek said nothing.

"I don't know if he shows any remorse now or not, but at the time he was hardcore and just nasty," recalled the retired detective.

Cates then questioned Wigley. He confessed they took turns beating and raping Adela in the truck during the 60 mile trip to Dania.

But it was Marek, he said, who strangled her on the beach.

Marek was sentenced to death. Wigley got life in prison.

Ironically, in 2000, Wigley was strangled by a fellow prisoner.

"Right on," Trach said with a sly smile. "I was glad to hear that."

Now it was Marek's turn.

Neither Jean, who is 79-years-old, nor any of Adela's family attended Wednesday's execution.

Instead Jean and one of Adela's daughters were planning to have dinner together in Miami, remembering their friend and mother.

And when word comes the execution is complete?

"I'll probably heave a sigh of relief," said Trach, "but that's about it and get on with my life like I've been doing."

Only Wednesday night with a little more sleep.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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