Photo: Zeferli / iStock / Getty Images
FLORIDA - Florida authorities have scheduled the execution of Bryan Fredrick Jennings, 66, who was convicted of the 1979 rape and murder of 6-year-old Rebecca Kunash.
Governor Ron DeSantis signed the death warrant Friday, setting Jennings’ lethal injection for November 13th at Florida State Prison.
This will be the 16th execution in Florida in 2025, the most in a single year by any Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Jennings was convicted of murder, kidnapping, and sexual battery and sentenced to death in 1986, following two earlier death sentences that were overturned.
Court records state that in May 1979, Jennings entered a home in Brevard County through a window, abducted Rebecca Kunash, and drove her to a canal near Merritt Island.
Investigators reported that he sexually assaulted the girl, fatally struck her head, and then drowned her.
Police recovered her body shortly afterward.
Jennings was arrested on a traffic warrant and later linked to the murder.
His attorneys are expected to pursue appeals with both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Florida has executed 35 people across the United States so far in 2025.
The state’s most recent execution occurred September 30th, when Victory Tony Jones, convicted of killing a married couple during a 1990 robbery, was put to death.
Another two inmates, Samuel Lee Smithers and Norman Mearle Grim Jr., are also scheduled for execution in the coming weeks.
The previous record for executions in Florida in a single year was eight, set in 2014.