A man from Florida, who admitted to murdering his girlfriend’s baby daughter and disposing of her body in a pond three decades ago, is scheduled to face execution on Tuesday evening.
Andrew Richard Lukehart, aged 53, is set to be executed with a three-drug lethal injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. In 1997, Lukehart was sentenced to death after being found guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, following the 1996 death of 5-month-old Gabrielle Hanshaw.
This marks Florida’s eighth execution this year, trailing a record 19 executions carried out in 2025. That year, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions than any other governor since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1976. The previous high was eight executions in 2014.
According to court documents, in February 1996, Lukehart was entrusted with caring for his girlfriend’s baby while she attended to her sick older daughter. Lukehart reportedly drove away from their Jacksonville home, and the baby, Gabrielle, went missing. He later called his girlfriend, claiming the baby was kidnapped and that he was pursuing the abductor.
That same night, Lukehart was found in another county after crashing his car. During an interrogation the following day, he confessed that Gabrielle died after he accidentally dropped her and then shook her. Panicking, he threw her body into a pond, where investigators later discovered it.
Recently, the Florida Supreme Court dismissed Lukehart’s appeals. His legal team argued that the medication he takes for kidney disease might adversely interact with the lethal injection drugs. They also contended that the short notice of a month between the signing of Lukehart’s death warrant and his execution violated his right to due process.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied Lukehart’s final appeal on Monday.
A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.
Another execution is planned in Florida later this month. Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, was convicted of fatally stabbing his wife in 1992.
All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
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