Skip to content

Biography · Biography & Culture

Bennie Demps

1950–2000

United States

Source image for Bennie DempsLoading image…
Visit the source record ↗

Biography

Bennie Eddie Demps (June 17, 1950 – June 7, 2000) was an American serial killer and Vietnam War veteran convicted of three murders committed between 1971 and 1976. On February 15, 1971, Demps and 16-year-old accomplice Jackie Hardie shot and killed Robert Brinkworth and Celia Puhlick, and for this double murder, Demps and Hardie were sentenced to death, but in 1973, their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment when the U.S. Supreme Court suspended the death penalty in a 1972 landmark ruling. Four years later, on September 7, 1976, Demps and two other prisoners stabbed and killed fellow inmate Alfred Sturgis at Florida State Prison.

Sources & collection details

Wikipedia contributors — original record ↗

Black heritage reference ↗

Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Continue exploring Series 1

Explore all Series 1 cards →