Edward Zakrzewski is set for execution Thursday, marking the ninth execution in Florida in 2025, a new state record for a single year.
STARKE, Fla. — A Florida man convicted of the 1994 machete murders of his wife and two children is scheduled for execution Thursday. This marks the ninth death sentence in 2025, setting a new state record for executions in a single year. A 10th execution is planned for Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant for 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski, ordering his execution by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Zakrzewski’s last appeal for a stay was turned down Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Florida’s previous peak for executions in a year was eight in 2014, since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court. This year, Florida leads in executions, with Texas and South Carolina tied for second, each with four.
Zakrzewski, a veteran of the Air Force, was sentenced to death for killing his 34-year-old wife, Sylvia, and their children, Edward, 7, and Anna, 5, in Okaloosa County, Panhandle. During the trial, evidence revealed he committed the murders after his wife filed for divorce, and he had stated he would rather kill his family than let that happen.
Testimonies detailed that Sylvia was initially attacked with a crowbar and strangled with a rope. The children were killed with a machete, and Sylvia was also struck again with the blade when Zakrzewski thought she survived the earlier attack.
Critics of the execution highlight Zakrzewski’s military background and the fact that the jury recommended his execution by a narrow 7-5 margin. Under current state law, such a narrow jury vote would not result in execution. Despite this, the trial judge sentenced Zakrzewski to death for each of the three murders.
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.
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.
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