Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has now reportedly signed a death warrant for Bryan Frederick Jennings, a 66-year-old man convicted of the 1979 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 6-year-old Rebecca “Becky” Kunash of Merritt Island.
Jennings is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Nov. 13 at 6 p.m., the governor’s office announced.
If carried out, the execution would mark the 16th in Florida this year, continuing the state’s renewed enforcement of capital punishment under DeSantis.
Florida has already executed 13 inmates in 2025 and has two more scheduled this month — Samuel Smithers on Oct. 14 and Norman Grim on Oct. 28.
According to court records, Jennings committed one of Florida’s most disturbing crimes more than four decades ago.
On the night of May 11, 1979, he was drawn to a nightlight shining in Becky Kunash’s bedroom window as the child slept. Her parents were asleep in another part of the home. Jennings removed the window screen, climbed inside, and, covering the girl’s mouth, carried her to his car.
He then drove her to a secluded area near the Girard Street Canal on Merritt Island. There, according to the Florida Supreme Court’s description of the case, Jennings then assaulted her and fractured her skull. He then held her underwater until she drowned.
At the time of the killing, Jennings was 20 years old and home on leave from his post with the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa, Japan. Court documents state that he had been drinking heavily that night.
Jennings was first convicted in 1980 and again in 1982, but both convictions were overturned on appeal. He was later retried and convicted a third time on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping with intent to commit sexual battery, sexual battery, and burglary. He was sentenced to death for the murder and has remained on death row for decades.
DeSantis’s decision to sign the death warrant underscores his administration’s broader approach to enforcing capital punishment as both a deterrent and a moral imperative.
Florida law allows the governor to issue execution warrants once all appeals and post-conviction proceedings have been exhausted. Jennings’s decades-long legal odyssey through state and federal courts concluded earlier this year, clearing the way for the warrant.
The DeSantis administration has framed such actions as a commitment to justice for victims and their families — particularly in cases involving the most brutal crimes.
While death penalty opponents continue to question the practice’s morality and efficacy, DeSantis has made clear that he believes capital punishment serves an essential role in protecting the public and upholding law and order.
For many Floridians, especially those in Brevard County who remember the Kunash case, the scheduled execution brings a measure of long-awaited closure. The crime left a deep scar on the community, and after more than 45 years, the state’s action signals an end to one of Florida’s most haunting and protracted murder cases.
[READ MORE: Benny Johnson Blames Democrats for Political Violence After Threats Against His Family]
