TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida has scheduled the execution of Edward J. Zakrzewski, II, a man who brutally murdered his wife and two children in 1994 after his wife sought a divorce. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant Tuesday, setting the execution date for July 31.
Zakrzewski, now 53, pleaded guilty in 1996 to three counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death for killing his wife, Sylvia Zakrzewski, 36, and their children, Edward, 7, and Anna, 5, at the family’s home in Okaloosa County in Florida’s Panhandle.
According to court records, Zakrzewski used a crowbar and machete to beat and strangle his wife before turning the machete on his two children. The brutal slayings took place on June 9, 1994. After the murders, he fled the state, abandoning his home and vehicle.
The case remained unsolved for several weeks until it was featured on the television show Unsolved Mysteries. Zakrzewski ultimately surrendered to authorities in Hawaii after seeing himself profiled on the program.
Prosecutors said Zakrzewski’s motive was anger over his wife’s decision to leave him and take the children. During his confession, Zakrzewski admitted to meticulously planning the murders and disposing of evidence to cover up the crime.
In the decades since his conviction, Zakrzewski’s appeals have been denied, and courts have consistently upheld his death sentences.
Florida’s Department of Corrections has now set a lethal injection as the method of execution. If carried out, Zakrzewski’s execution would be the ninth scheduled in Florida this year.
Separately, Michael Bernard Bell, 54, is scheduled for execution on July 15. Bell was convicted of fatally shooting two people outside a bar in Pensacola in 1993.
Last week, the state executed Thomas Lee Gudinas, 51, who was convicted of raping and murdering a woman in Orlando in 1994.
Florida carried out six executions in 2023, but only one prior to these latest death warrants in 2024.
Gov. DeSantis has publicly supported resuming and accelerating executions as part of his administration’s tough stance on violent crime.
