Latest news with #Zakrzewski
CBS News
01-08-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Florida puts to death man who killed wife and children with machete, setting record for most executions there in single year
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.
UPI
01-08-2025
- Politics
- UPI
Florida executes record 9th death row inmate
Edward Zkarzewski was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Raiford on Thursday evening. Photo courtesy of Florida Department of Corrections/ Website Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Florida has executed a 60-year-old Air Force veteran for killing his wife and two children in 1994, marking a record ninth execution for the Sunshine State. Edward Zakrzewski was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Raiford, about 46 miles southwest of Jacksonville. He was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. EST, the Florida Department of Corrections said in a statement. With Zakrzewski's death, Florida has killed nine people so far in 2025, its most in a calendar year since the resumption of executions in the United States in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. It is also the United States' 27th execution of the year, the nation's most since 2015 when there were 28, as executions were on a near-yearly decline from a height of 98 in 1999. Zakrzewski was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to killing his 34-year-old wife, Sylvia, his 7-year-old son, Edward, and his 5-year-old daughter, Anna, on June 9, 1994. He was accused of hitting his wife, who wanted a divorce, on the head with a crowbar multiple times before strangling her with a rope and then striking her with a machete. He then used the machete to kill his two children. Following the murders, he left for Hawaii, where he lived with a family that ran a religious commune. Zakrzewski turned himself in to police after the family saw his picture during a broadcast of the television show Unsolved Mysteries. The jury voted seven to five to recommend he be executed for killing his wife and Edward, and life in prison without the possibility of parol for the murder of Anna. His defense, according to court documents, argued their client was under extreme mental and emotional disturbance and had expressed remorse since the crime. They also filed numerous appeals in the years since the conviction, with the final one being rejected Wednesday by the Supreme Court. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on July 1. "Gov. Ron DeSantis now holds the dishonorable distinction of executing more people in one year than any prior governor in Florida's history," Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said in a statement. "There have been many media inquiries about the reasons for the unrelenting number and pace of these executions, all asking one thing -- why now? And the response from the administration? Deafening silence. This killing spree has taken place on a desolate road in the middle of nowhere, far from the governor's mansion, without rhyme or reason. "The people of the State of Florida deserve better than executions shrouded in silence and secrecy," the group said. Florida has scheduled two more executions for this month, Kayle Bates on Aug. 19, and Curtis Windom on Aug. 28. There are, so far, 10 more executions scheduled throughout the United States this year.
Sinar Daily
01-08-2025
- Sinar Daily
Ex-US airman who killed wife and children executed in Florida
Edward Zakrzewski pleaded guilty to the June 1994 murders of his wife, Sylvia, son Edward, 7, and daughter Anna, 5. 01 Aug 2025 10:12am This undated photo released by the Florida Department of Corrections and obtained on July 30, 2025, shows death row inmate Edward Zakrzewski. - AFP photo MIAMI - A former US Air Force sergeant who killed his wife and two young children was executed by lethal injection in the southern state of Florida on Thursday. Edward Zakrzewski, 60, pleaded guilty to the June 1994 murders of his wife, Sylvia, son Edward, 7, and daughter Anna, 5. His wife was beaten with a crowbar, strangled with a rope and struck with a machete. The two children were hacked to death with the machete, which Zakrzewski had purchased during his lunch break after being informed that his wife planned to divorce him. Zakrzewski fled to Hawaii and changed his name following the murders but turned himself in four months later after being identified by friends on a television show called "Unsolved Mysteries." Zakrzewski was executed at 6.12pm (2212 GMT) at the Florida State Prison in Raiford, after his appeal was denied by the US Supreme Court on Wednesday. The Pensacola News Journal reported his final words, in part, as "I want to thank the good people of the Sunshine State for killing me in the most cold and calculated, clean, humane and efficient way possible. I have no complaints whatsoever." There have been 27 executions in the United States this year, the most since the 28 executions of 2015. Including Zakrzewski, 22 have been carried out by lethal injection, two have been by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate. The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane. Florida has carried out the most executions in 2025 -- nine. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others -- California, Oregon and Pennsylvania -- have moratoriums in place. President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment, and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use "for the vilest crimes." - AFP More Like This
USA Today
31-07-2025
- USA Today
He killed his family with a machete. His execution marks a milestone in Florida.
The state executed former Air Force Sgt. Edward Zakrzewski II for killing his wife and two children when she wanted a divorce. The state has now executed more inmates than in previous years. Florida's execution of a former Air Force sergeant in the machete murders of his family is the state's ninth this year, a record in the state's modern history. The state executed former Sgt. Edward Zakrzewski II by lethal injection on Thursday, July 31, for a crime that shocked north Florida more than 30 years ago on June 9, 1994. When his wife wanted a divorce, he used a machete to kill her, their 5-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. Their bodies were found in a bathtub in their home in the coastal city of Mary Esther. Zakrzewski was pronounce dead at 6:12 p.m. ET. Florida has executed more inmates this year that any other state at nine executions, which is more than any other year in the state's modern history. The state previously executed eight people in 1984 and 2014. Florida is on track to outpace Texas in executions for the first time since 1984 as Gov. Ron DeSantis makes the issue a priority, saying in May that he wants to bring closure to families who've been waiting sometimes decades for their loved one's killer to be executed. "There are so some crimes that are just so horrific, the only appropriate punishment is the death penalty," he said. Zakrzewski's execution is also the 27th in the nation, a 10-year high. Here's what you need to know about Zakrzewski's execution, the crime he committed and why Florida's numbers are so high. What was Edward Zakrzewski's last meal? Zakrzewski's last meal was fried pork chops, fried onions, potatoes, bacon, toast, root beer, ice cream, pie and coffee. What were Edward Zakrzewski's last words? USA TODAY was awaiting to hear what Zakrzewski's last words were and will update this story as soon as possible. Live updates: Florida death row inmate Edward Zakrzewski has his last meal What was Edward Zakrzewski convicted of? On June 9, 1994, 7-year-old Edward Zakrzewski called his father at work to tell him that his mother, 34-year-old Sylvia, was filing divorce papers that day. Zakrzewski bought a machete during his lunch break, took it home and sharpened it before hiding it and a crowbar, according to court records. Later that night, Zakrzewski told Edward and his 5-year-old daughter Anna to watch TV and then attacked Sylvia. He hit her in the head repeatedly with the crowbar, put a plastic bag over her head and choked her with a rope, he later confessed to police. Zakrzewski then called to each of his children separately to come brush their teeth before attacking them each with the machete. He then dragged his wife, who was still alive, into the bathroom where her dead children were and used the machete on her head and neck several times. He left all their bodies in the tub. Zakrzewski fled immediately after the murders, retreating to Hawaii's Molokai Island, living under an assumed name and befriending a local Pentecostal minister who let Zakrzewski stay in a shack on his property in exchange for maintenance work. Zakrzewski managed to live like that for four months before the minister recognized him on "Unsolved Mysteries," after which Zakrzewski turned himself in. Zakrzewski eventually pleaded guilty to the murders, though his attorneys argued he should be spared from the death penalty. They cited his "exemplary" service in the Air Force, the fact that he turned himself in and pleaded guilty, was "a loving husband and father" before the killings, and that he showed "sincere grief and remorse." Judge G. Robert Barron rejected the mitigating arguments. He pointed to the particularly disturbing way Anna had been killed, with evidence indicating that she likely saw her brother's body and was forced to kneel down and place her neck on the edge of the bathtub before her father hit her with the machete. "The court is convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that prior to Anna's death she not only experienced the horror of knowing that she was about to be murdered by her own father, but she also experienced the absolute horror of knowing that her brother had been murdered and that she was next," he said at sentencing. "This court could not imagine a more heinous and atrocious way to die." Barron found that the killings were "the product of probably months and undeniably hours of cool, calm reflection, and careful planning," and that death was the only just punishment. Who is Edward Zakrzewski II? Zakrzewski was one of four brothers and a sister who grew up in Michigan and later became estranged from his family, according to an archived report in the Kalamazoo Gazette. While in the military, he received the Air Force Commendation Medal for Meritorious Service. Zakrzewski's trial attorney, Elton Killam, told the judge that his client was motivated to kill because of his wife's alleged infidelity, gambling habits and long-term psychological abuse. He decided to kill his children out of mercy because he didn't want to see them grow up in Korea, where his wife was from, and treated lesser than because of their mixed race, Killam said, according to an archived Associated Press report in which he referred to the children as "half breeds." Killam told the judge that Zakrzewski met his wife in Montana at an Air Force base exchange where she worked. The two moved to South Korea before he was transferred to Elgin Air Force Base. He said she was unfaithful to Zakrzewski while in Korea, miscarried her lover's child while she was there, and later ran up big phone bills, calling her lover all while squandering money at night clubs and casinos while Zakrzewski stayed home with the kids, Killam said, according to AP. Zakrzewski's current attorney, Lisa Fusaro, told USA TODAY that "Zakrzewski is very remorseful and has become very spiritual over the years." "He helps to mentor other death row inmates and practices yoga and meditation," she said. "He has continued to stay in contact with his family and friends all these years, who are deeply saddened by the signing of his (death) warrant." USA TODAY was unable to track down any family members of Zakrzewski's victims to learn more about who they were. What's going on in Florida? Florida has executed nine men, with two more scheduled in August. More are expected to be added to the calendar as DeSantis signs more death warrants. The state is helping drive a busy year for executions in the nation. So far in 2025, states have executed 27 inmates − a 10-year high. With 10 more on the calendar, the U.S. stands to execute as least 37 prisoners by year's end. Robin Maher, director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said Florida's uptick "represents an unprecedented investment of taxpayer dollars and resources to enact a policy that has never been shown to improve public safety or deter crime." "When compared to the rest of the country, Florida is clearly an outlier in the way that it enthusiastically uses the death penalty despite rising public concerns, high cost, and low public support," she said, referring to studies that show decreasing support for the death penalty though it was about 53% nationwide as of 2024, according to a Gallup poll. Texas remains the state that has executed the most inmates, by far. The state has executed 594 inmates in the modern death penalty era (since 1976). The next closest state is Oklahoma at 129, then Florida at 115. Texas has either matched or outpaced Florida in executions every year in the modern era except for 1979, 1984 and this year. Edward Zakrzewski lawyers fought for a reprieve On July 22, the Florida Supreme Court rejected arguments from Zakrzewski's attorneys that his death sentence should be tossed out because he never would have been sentenced to die under current Florida law. When he was sentenced in 1996, Zakrazewski's jury recommended death on votes of 7-5 for the murder of his wife and son, and 6-6 for his daughter's murder. Under current law, at least eight jurors need to vote for the death penalty. "Standards of decency have evolved," his attorneys wrote. The state Supreme Court ruled the claims were meritless. Contributing: Tom McLaughlin, Pensacola News Journal Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
Toronto Sun
31-07-2025
- Toronto Sun
Florida set to execute man for killing wife, 2 kids in new state death sentence record for 1 year
Published Jul 31, 2025 • 2 minute read This undated photo released by the Florida Department of Corrections and obtained on July 30, 2025 shows death row inmate Edward Zakrzewski. Photo by HANDOUT / Florida Department of Correction STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing his wife and two children with a machete in 1994 is set for execution Thursday, which would be the ninth death sentence carried out in 2025 to set a new state record for a single year. A 10th execution is scheduled for Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis directs that 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Zakrzewski's final appeal for a stay was rejected Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court. The highest previous annual total of recent Florida executions is eight in 2014, since the death penalty was restored in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each. Zakrzewski, an Air Force veteran, was sentenced to die for the 1994 slayings of his 34-year-old wife, Sylvia, and their children Edward, 7, and 5-year-old Anna, at their home in Okaloosa County in the Panhandle. Trial testimony showed he committed the killings after his wife sought a divorce, and he had told others he would kill his family rather than allow that. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Sylvia was attacked first with a crowbar and strangled with a rope, testimony shows. Both children were killed with the machete, and Sylvia was also struck with the blade when Zakrzewski thought she had survived the previous assault. Opponents of the execution point to Zakrzewski's military service and the fact that a jury voted 7-5 to recommend his execution, barely a majority of the panel. He could not be executed with such a split jury vote under current state law. The trial judge imposed three death sentences on Zakrzewski. The Action Network, which organized an anti-execution petition, asked people to call DeSantis' office and read a prepared script urging a stay of execution for Zakrzewski. 'Florida does not need the death penalty to be safe. This execution will not make us safer, it will simply add another act of violence to an already tragic story. Justice does not require death,' the script reads in part. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Zakrzewski's lawyers have filed numerous appeals over the years, all of which have been rejected. Twenty-six men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and 11 other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Florida was also the last state to execute someone, when Michael Bernard Bell died by lethal injection on July 15. DeSantis also signed a warrant for the 10th execution this year for Kayle Bates, who abducted a woman from an insurance office and killed her more than four decades ago. Wednesday night, DeSantis issued a death warrant for Curtis Windom, 59, convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992. His execution is scheduled 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. Toronto & GTA Celebrity Canada Canada Canada
