Edward Zakrzewski, a Florida death row inmate who murdered his wife and two young children in 1993, was executed on July 31, 2025. He was 60 years old. The execution took place at Florida State Prison and marked the state’s ninth this year, setting a grim new record since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Zakrzewski was convicted of brutally killing his wife, Sylvia, and their two children—Edward, 7, and Anna, 5—inside their Okaloosa County home. Prosecutors said he used a crowbar, rope, and machete after his wife said she wanted a divorce. “He’d rather kill them than lose them,” one court filing noted.

After the murders, Zakrzewski fled to a remote religious commune in Hawaii under a fake name. His identity was exposed years later after the case aired on a TV program, prompting him to turn himself in. For decades, he appealed his sentence, but all efforts were ultimately denied.

He died by lethal injection at 6:12 p.m. Witnesses said he remained calm and quoted poetry before the procedure. His last meal included pork chops, ice cream, and root beer.

In his final words, he delivered a chilling line:
“Thank you to the Sunshine State for killing me in the most cold, calculated, clean, humane, efficient way possible. I have no complaint.”

His execution adds to Florida’s controversial lead in capital punishment this year, amid a national rise in executions not seen in over a decade.