Florida man executed for the 1979 killing of a girl, 6, who was abducted
from her bedroom
[November 14, 2025]
By CURT ANDERSON
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of the 1979 killing a 6-year-old
girl who was abducted from her bedroom was put to death Thursday evening
in a record 16th execution in Florida this year.
Bryan Frederick Jennings, 66, was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. following
a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. Jennings
drew the death penalty for the murder of Rebecca Kunash, who was raped
and drowned in a canal.
When asked if he had a final statement, Jennings said “No” loudly. As
the drugs were then administered, his chest heaved and his arms twitched
for a few minutes. Then he laid still with his mouth open.
No members of the victim's family spoke to the media after the
execution, and Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland said
the procedure went as planned.
“The execution took place without incident," he said. "There were no
complications.”
The execution of the ex-Marine was one of three scheduled this week in
the U.S., though Oklahoma’s governor spared the life of a man just
before a planned lethal injection Thursday. On Friday, Stephen Bryant is
set to be executed by firing squad in South Carolina for three killings
more than two decades ago.
Court records show Jennings was a 20-year-old on leave from the Marine
Corps on May 11, 1979, when he removed the screen from the girl's
bedroom window while her parents were in another room.
Jennings abducted the girl, took her in his car to a canal and raped
her, trial testimony showed. He then “swung her by her legs to the
ground with such force that she fractured her skull,” according to court
records. The girl was then drowned in the canal, where her body was
found later that day.
Arrested hours later on a traffic warrant, Jennings matched the
description of a man seen near the Kunash home when the girl
disappeared. Shoe prints found at the home matched those Jennings was
wearing, his fingerprints were found on the girl’s windowsill, and his
clothes and hair were wet, court records stated.
Jennings was convicted and sentenced to death twice for the 1979 murder
in Brevard County, both of which were reversed on appeal. The final
trial in 1986 resulted in a third death sentence. He also drew life
sentences for kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary convictions.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Republican who signed the death warrant, has
ordered more executions in a single year than any Florida governor since
the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976. The previous state
record was set in 2014 with eight executions.
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This photo provided by Florida Department of Corrections shows Bryan
Frederick Jennings. (Florida Department of Correction via AP)
Additional Florida executions are scheduled on Nov. 20 for Richard
Barry Randolph and on Dec. 9 for Mark Allen Geralds, which if
carried out would bring the year’s total to 18 so far this year.
DeSantis has explained the unprecedented number of executions by
saying his goal is to bring justice to victims' families who have
waited decades for the death sentences to be carried out.
“Some of these crimes were committed in the ’80s,” the governor said
at a recent news conference. “Justice delayed is justice denied. I
felt I owed it to them to make sure this ran very smoothly. If I
honestly thought someone was innocent, I would not pull the
trigger.”
Florida executions are all conducted via lethal injection using a
sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to
the Department of Corrections.
Jennings had filed numerous state and federal court appeals, most
recently contending he went months without a lawyer prior to
DeSantis signing his death warrant, calling that a violation of his
right to counsel.
With Jennings' death, a total of 42 people have undergone
court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and at least
16 others — including Bryant — were scheduled to be put to death in
the rest of 2025 and throughout 2026, according to the nonprofit
Death Penalty Information Center.
South Carolina’s highest court recently refused to stop plans for
Bryant’s firing squad execution, scheduled for Friday evening.
Bryant was convicted of killing three people over five days while
leaving taunting messages for police in the blood of one of his
victims.
On Thursday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted Tremane Wood’s
sentence to life in prison moments before Woods was to be put to
death for his role in the 2002 killing of farmworker Ronnie Wipf
during an attempted robbery.
Wood’s attorneys didn’t deny their client's participation in the
robbery but maintained the man's brother Zjaiton — who died in
prison in 2019 while serving life without parole — actually stabbed
Wipf.
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