A criminal who abducted, sexually assaulted, and killed a six-year-old girl has been put to death on death row. Bryan Frederick Jennings was found guilty more than four decades ago for the first-degree murder, kidnapping, burglary, and sexual assault of Rebecca Kunash. He kidnapped the young girl, drove her to a canal, and committed the assault. Jennings, who was 20 at the time, then violently caused the girl’s death by swinging her by her legs, resulting in a fractured skull, before drowning her in the canal where her body was discovered later that day.

Subsequently, Jennings, now 66, was executed on death row at the prison near Starke, Florida, where he had been incarcerated since the crime. The lethal injection marked the 16th execution in Florida this year. Despite being a former US Marine, Jennings chose not to make a final statement before his death, which proceeded smoothly without any complications, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Jordan Kirkland.

Following the girl’s rape, Jennings was arrested on an unrelated traffic warrant, matching the description of a man spotted near the Kunash residence when the girl went missing. Evidence such as shoeprints, fingerprints, and wet clothing linked Jennings to the crime scene. He faced multiple convictions and death sentences for the 1979 Brevard County murder, with the final conviction in 1986 leading to reaffirmed death penalty along with life sentences for other charges.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who authorized Jennings’ execution, has overseen a significant increase in executions compared to previous years in Florida. Two more executions are scheduled for later this year, potentially bringing the total to 18 in 2021. Governor DeSantis justified the surge in executions by emphasizing the importance of delivering justice to victims’ families without delay, particularly for crimes dating back to the 1980s. He expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth execution process and affirmed his stance against executing innocent individuals.