Florida puts to death man who killed wife and children with machete, setting record for most executions there in single year

CBS News

6 days ago

Starke, Fla. — A man convicted of the 1994 machete killings of his wife and their two children became the ninth person put to death in Florida this year, his death Thursday marking a state record for a single-year execution total since the restoration of the death penalty in the U.S. decades ago.
Edward Zakrzewski was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. After the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, Florida carried out a one-year high of eight executions in 2014, a total matched this year with a mid-July execution and now exceeded.
"I want to thank the good people of the Sunshine State for killing me in the most cold, calculated, clean, humane, efficient way possible. I have no complaint," Zakrzewski said in his final words once the curtain to the death chamber went up shortly after 6 p.m.
He was lying on a gurney covered with a white sheet. Before the drugs began flowing, he also quoted from a poem as 14 witnesses looked on, plus media reporters and prison staff.
Once the drugs were administered, Zakrzewski began breathing deeply, surrounded by three Corrections Department staff in dark suits. One of them shook Zakrzewski by the shoulders and shouted his name. There was no reaction, and then he was still.
No members of the victims' family spoke with reporters afterward.
Florida this year has carried out more executions than any other state, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second with four apiece. A 10th execution is scheduled in Florida on Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28 under death warrants signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Zakrzewski, 60, was sentenced to death for the June 9, 1994, killings of his 34-year-old wife Sylvia and their children Edward, 7, and Anna, 5, in the Florida Panhandle.
Trial testimony showed he committed the killings at their Okaloosa County home after his wife sought a divorce, and he had told others he would kill his family rather than allow that.
The woman was attacked first with a crowbar and strangled with a rope, court testimony showed. Both children were killed with the machete, and Sylvia was also struck with the blade when Zakrzewski thought she had survived the previous assault, according to court records.
Zakrzewski's lawyers filed numerous appeals over the years, but all were rejected including a final request for a stay of execution denied Wednesday by the Supreme Court.
Earlier Thursday, Zakrzewski awoke at 5:15 a.m. and later had a meal that included fried pork chops, root beer and ice cream, said state Department of Corrections spokesman Paul Walker. He said Zakrzewski had one visitor and "remained compliant" as he awaited execution.
Until Thursday's execution, 26 men had died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., while 11 other people were set to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Florida was also the last state to conduct an execution with Michael Bernard Bell's lethal injection on July 15.
DeSantis signed a warrant for an Aug. 19 execution for Kayle Bates, who was convicted of abducting and killing a woman from an insurance office in 1982. On Wednesday night, DeSantis also issued a death warrant for Curtis Windom, who was convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992. His execution is set for Aug. 28.
Florida uses a three-drug cocktail for its lethal injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Opponents of Thursday's execution plan pointed to Zakrzewski's military service as an Air Force veteran and the fact that a jury voted 7-5 to recommend his execution, barely a majority of the panel. They noted he could not have received the death penalty with a split jury vote under current state law.