Edward Zakrzewski sentenced to death by the State of Florida for a triple murder
According to court documents Edward Zakrzewski wife was seeking a divorce and instead of letting it happen he would murder her and their two young children: Sylvia and his two children, Edward, 7, and Anna, 5.
Edward Zakrzewski would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Update – Edward Zakrzewski was executed by lethal injection on July 31 2026
Edward Zakrzewski Photos
Edward Zakrzewski Now
| DC Number: | 554000 |
|---|---|
| Name: | ZAKRZEWSKI, EDWARD J II |
| Race: | WHITE |
| Sex: | MALE |
| Birth Date: | 01/31/1965 |
| Initial Receipt Date: | 04/19/1996 |
| Current Facility: | UNION C.I. |
| Current Custody: | MAXIMUM |
| Current Release Date: | DEATH SENTENCE |
Edward Zakrzewski Case
Zakrzewski pled guilty to the first-degree murders of his wife, Sylvia, and his two children, Edward and Anna. A penalty phase before a jury was held that established the following facts:
Zakrzewski and his wife had been experiencing marital problems for some time prior to the murders. Zakrzewski twice told a neighbor that he would kill his family rather than let them go through a divorce. On June 9, 1994, the morning of the murders, Edward called Zakrzewski at work and stated that Sylvia wanted a divorce. During his lunch break, Zakrzewski purchased a machete. He returned to work and completed his daily routine. That evening, Zakrzewski arrived home before his wife and children. He hid the machete in the bathroom.
After his family arrived home, Zakrzewski approached Sylvia, who was sitting alone in the living room. He hit her at least twice over the head with a crowbar. The testimony established that Sylvia may have been rendered unconscious as a result of these blows, although not dead. Zakrzewski then dragged Sylvia into the bedroom, where he hit her again and strangled her with rope.
Zakrzewski then called Edward into the bathroom to come brush his teeth. As Edward entered the room, Zakrzewski struck the boy with the machete. Edward realized what his father was doing and tried to block the blow with his arm, causing a wound to his wrist. Further blows caused severe head, neck, and back injuries, and resulted in death.
Zakrzewski then called Anna into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Zakrzewski testified that he hit the girl with the machete as soon as she entered the bathroom. The State’s expert testified that the blood spatters from Anna show that the girl was kneeling over the bathtub when she was struck by the machete. Cuts were found on Anna’s right hand and elbow, consistent with defensive wounds. The blows from the machete resulted in Anna’s death. The evidence was in conflict as to whether Anna was aware of her impending death.
Finally, Zakrzewski dragged his wife from the bedroom to the bathroom. He still was not sure if she was dead, so he hit her with the machete. Sylvia died from blunt force injuries as well as sharp force injuries.
Following the murders, Zakrzewski drove to Orlando and boarded a plane bound for Hawaii. While in Hawaii, Zakrzewski changed his name and lived with a family who ran a religious commune. After he had been there four months, the family happened to watch the television show “Unsolved Mysteries,” which aired Zakrzewski’s picture. Zakrzewski turned himself in to the local police the next day.
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/fl-supreme-court/1059229.html
Edward Zakrzewski Execution
A man convicted of the 1994 killings of his wife and their two children became the ninth person put to death in Florida this year, his death Thursday marking a state record for a single-year execution total since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty decades ago.
Edward Zakrzewski, 60, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. After the return of the U.S. death penalty in 1976, Florida carried out a high of eight executions in 2014, a one-year total only matched this year with a mid-July execution and now exceeded.
“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,” Zakrzewski said after the curtain to the death chamber went up shortly after 6 p.m.
He was lying on a gurney covered with a white sheet. Before the drugs began flowing, he also quoted from a poem as 14 witnesses looked on, plus media reporters and prison staff.
Once the drugs were administered, Zakrzewski began breathing deeply, surrounded by three Corrections Department staffers in dark suits. One of them shook Zakrzewski by the shoulders and shouted his name. There was no reaction, and then he was still.
Florida this year has carried out more executions than any other state, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second with four each. A 10th execution is scheduled in Florida on Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28 under death warrants signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
No members of the victims’ family spoke with reporters after Thursday’s execution.
Twenty-seven men had died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., while nine other people are set to be put to death in seven states during the rest of 2025. Florida also was the last state to execute someone, giving Michael Bernard Bell a lethal injection on July 15.
Zakrzewski was sentenced to die for the June 9, 1994, killings of his 34-year-old wife Sylvia and their children Edward, 7, and Anna, 5, in the Florida Panhandle. Trial testimony showed he carried out the killings at their Okaloosa County home after his wife sought a divorce, and he had told others he would kill his family rather than allow that to happen.
The woman was attacked first with a crowbar and strangled with a rope, court testimony showed. Both children were killed with a machete, and Sylvia was also struck with the blade when Zakrzewski thought she had survived the previous assault, according to court records.
Zakrzewski’s lawyers filed numerous unsuccessful appeals over the years, including a final plea for a stay of execution that the Supreme Court denied on Wednesday.
On Thursday morning, Zakrzewski awoke at 5:15 a.m. and later in the day had a meal that included fried pork chops, root beer and ice cream, state Department of Corrections spokesman Paul Walker said. He said Zakrzewski had one visitor and “remained compliant” as his execution time neared
Kayle Bates, who was convicted of abducting a woman from an insurance office and killing her in 1982, is next scheduled to be executed in Florida on Aug. 19. DeSantis also has signed a death warrant setting an Aug. 28 execution date for Curtis Windom, who was convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992.
Florida uses a three-drug cocktail for its lethal injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Before Thursday’s execution, opponents pointed to Zakrzewski’s military service as an Air Force veteran and the fact that a jury voted 7-5 to recommend his execution, barely a majority of the panel. They noted that under current state law, he could not have received the death penalty with a split jury vote.
Florida carries out record 9th execution of 2025 on man convicted of killing his family | AP News
