Judy Buenoano was usually a quiet, soft-spoken woman. She was polite…as long as she got her way.
In the early 1980s, I was a correctional officer, working at the Escambia County Jail in the Transportation section. I transported Buenoano to court many times, usually from the Santa Rosa County Jail, where she had been arrested for drowning her son in Blackwater River. She was always polite and agreeable with me. And you’ll never believe what she said to me one time!
However, when she didn’t get her way…when she was backed into a corner, more than once she lost her temper – usually when she saw a certain person.
Buenoano was first suspected of wrongdoing when her boyfriend’s car blew up on June 25, 1983, as a result of a bomb placed in it at the Driftwood Restaurant on West Garden Street in downtown Pensacola.
If it was not for the tenacity of a few smart men, she would probably have gotten away with that crime and others. Instead, she received the death penalty and was executed in Florida’s electric chair in 1998.
I will tell the whole story at 6:00 PM at THE VOICES OF PENSACOLA multicultural center, 117 E. Government Street, on June 25, 2026 – exactly 43 years after the car bomb.
For tickets, go to: https://michaelearlsimmons.com/event/sweet-tea-murders-live-an-evening-of-southern-crime-stories-2/
Or you can scan the QR Code here:
See you then!
Michael Earl Simmons
