Edward Zakrzewski was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, officials said.
STARKE, Fla. — A man found guilty of using a machete to murder his wife and two children in 1994 was executed on Thursday, marking him as the ninth person to be executed in Florida this year. This sets a new record for the state in a single year since the Supreme Court reestablished the death penalty decades ago.
Edward Zakrzewski was declared dead at 6:12 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, according to officials. Since the death penalty’s reinstatement in 1976, Florida’s previous highest number of executions in one year was eight in 2014, a number that was equaled earlier this year and has now been surpassed.
Zakrzewski was lying on a gurney and covered with a white sheet when the curtain in the death chamber went up about 6 p.m.
In his final words, Zakrzewski expressed gratitude, saying, “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.”
He also quoted from a poem just before the drugs began flowing, his execution watched by 14 witnesses, plus media reporters and prison staff.
When the lethal drugs were administered, Zakrzewski started breathing deeply, attended by three employees from the Corrections Department in dark suits. One staff member shook his shoulders and called his name, but there was no response, and then he became motionless.
This year, Florida has executed more people than any other state, with Texas and South Carolina both following with four executions each. Another execution is planned in Florida for Aug. 19, followed by one on Aug. 28, based on death warrants signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
Edward Zakrzewski, aged 60, received the death sentence for the murders of his 34-year-old wife Sylvia and their children, Edward, 7, and Anna, 5, in the Florida Panhandle on June 9, 1994.
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.
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