DeSantis signs death warrant for inmate who killed his family in 1994 after wife sought a divorce
By Associated Press
July 1, 2025 at 10:44 PM EDT
Edward J. Zakrzewski II pleaded guilty to strangling his wife to death and using a machete to kill his two children in Okaloosa County. He is slated for execution July 31.
A man who killed his wife and two children in 1994 after she sought a divorce is scheduled for execution in Florida under a death warrant signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Edward J. Zakrzewski II is set to die by lethal injection July 31 in the ninth execution scheduled for this year in the state.
ALSO READ: As the number of executions in Florida grows, so do the questions
Zakrzewski pleaded guilty in 1996 to three counts of first-degree murder and received three death sentences in the killings of wife Sylvia Zakrzewski, son Edward, 7, and daughter Anna, 5.
The man beat his wife with a crowbar and machete and strangled her to death and killed the children with a machete on June 9, 1994.
He eventually turned himself into law enforcement after the case was profiled on the television show “Unsolved Mysteries,” according to court documents.
ALSO READ: Witnesses' trial testimony is a key issue in bid to halt Florida's next execution
Another man on death row, Michael Bernard Bell, 54, is set to die by lethal injection July 15 at Florida State Prison. He's convicted of killing two people outside an Orlando bar.
Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, who was convicted of raping and killing a woman in Florida, was executed by lethal injection last week.
The state executed six people in 2023 but only carried out one execution last year.
Edward J. Zakrzewski II is set to die by lethal injection July 31 in the ninth execution scheduled for this year in the state.
ALSO READ: As the number of executions in Florida grows, so do the questions
Zakrzewski pleaded guilty in 1996 to three counts of first-degree murder and received three death sentences in the killings of wife Sylvia Zakrzewski, son Edward, 7, and daughter Anna, 5.
The man beat his wife with a crowbar and machete and strangled her to death and killed the children with a machete on June 9, 1994.
He eventually turned himself into law enforcement after the case was profiled on the television show “Unsolved Mysteries,” according to court documents.
ALSO READ: Witnesses' trial testimony is a key issue in bid to halt Florida's next execution
Another man on death row, Michael Bernard Bell, 54, is set to die by lethal injection July 15 at Florida State Prison. He's convicted of killing two people outside an Orlando bar.
Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, who was convicted of raping and killing a woman in Florida, was executed by lethal injection last week.
The state executed six people in 2023 but only carried out one execution last year.