The ninth execution carried out in Florida this year involved Edward Zakrzewski, whose final meal details have been disclosed.
Zakrzewski had been incarcerated for over three decades following his conviction for the murder of his family in 1994.
At 60, he was executed at 6:12 p.m. ET on July 31 in Florida through a lethal injection procedure.
The shocking nature of the crime captured Florida’s attention as the harrowing details emerged publicly.
Instead of agreeing to his wife Sylvia’s desire for a divorce, Zakrzewski chose to kill her and their two young children, aged seven and five.
He initially assaulted his wife with a crowbar and subsequently strangled her using a rope. Upon realizing she might still be alive, he attacked her with a machete.
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Zakrzewski killed his children in a similar fashion. Their bodies were discovered in a bathtub in their Mary Esther, Florida home.
In the wake of his execution, the details of his last meal surfaced.
Reports from Florida State Prison indicated that Zakrzewski’s final meal included fried pork chops, fried onions, potatoes, bacon, toast, root beer, ice cream, pie, and coffee.
The day before his execution, his last appeal to halt proceedings was rejected, yet he made a chilling statement prior to his death.
He remarked, “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.”
After evading capture for four months, Zakrzewski surrendered and later pleaded guilty to the murders.
Despite this, his defense team argued against the death penalty, citing his ‘exemplary’ Air Force service, the act of turning himself in, his previous role as ‘a loving husband and father’, and his display of ‘sincere grief and remorse’.
Earlier this year, Governor Ron DeSantis expressed his intention to expedite the process from sentencing to execution.
He argued that this approach was meant to provide closure to families who have waited years for the execution of their loved one’s murderer.
He stated, “There are so some crimes that are just so horrific, the only appropriate punishment is the death penalty.”