The Death Row inmate whose sentence was carried out more than 20 years after he was found guilty of murdering his wife and two children left this world with a rather chilling statement.
Edward Zakrzewksi was executed in Florida yesterday, July 31, over two decades after he was sentenced for the horrific crimes listed above. He became the 9th person to be executed in Florida in 2025, with two further executions planned for this month.
The 60-year-old was pronounced dead after being given a three-drug injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.
Zakrzewski had been on Death Row since 1994, when he was convicted of murdering his wife, Sylvia, and the couple’s two children, aged seven and five. Having dispatched his victims, he fled to Molokai Island, Haiwaii, where he managed to evade capture for four months before a local minister recognized him on Unsolved Mysteries.
He then turned himself in, with it reported that he had revealed he would rather kill his family than allow his wife divorce him.
The murderer’s last bid at a stay of execution failed on Wednesday and he subsequently became the 9th person to be executed in Florida this year – a new record for the state.
Officials at Florida State Prison revealed Zakrzewski had a final meal of fried pork chops, root beer and ice cream.
His chilling last words, meanwhile, were: “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.”
Florida is currently on track to outpace Texas in executions for the first time since 1984.
The Sunshine States’ previous record since capital punishment was restored in 1976 was eight executions back in 2014.