Florida Executes Bryan Jennings 46 Years After Brutal Rape and Murder of 6-Year-Old Merritt Island Girl

Cold-Blooded Killer Executed After Supreme Court Rejects Final Appeal

Forty-six years after 6-year-old Becky Kunash was kidnapped, raped, and murdered, her cold-blooded killer was finally executed.

STARKE, FLORIDA — Bryan Jennings, 66, formerly of Merritt Island, was convicted of raping and murdering 6-year-old Rebecca “Becky” Kunash in 1979 and was executed Thursday evening at the Florida State Prison, ending a case that spanned nearly five decades and multiple trials.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Jennings’ death warrant earlier this year, saying, “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

Jennings admitted to investigators that he had been out drinking on Merritt Island the night of the killing. He told police he often looked into windows of homes and was drawn to the glow of a nightlight in Becky Kunash’s bedroom.

He entered the home through the window, covered the child’s mouth, kidnapped her, and drove her to a nearby canal. There, he raped her, slammed her head into the ground, and held her underwater until she drowned. Her body was discovered by a fisherman the next day.

Investigators later found Jennings’ fingerprints on Becky’s window and a shoe print in the soil beneath it.

Jennings, who had dropped out of Merritt Island High School before joining the Marines, was home on military leave at the time of the heinous crime.

Jennings was asked whether he wished to speak, and replied, “No.” He was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m. following the lethal injection.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Jennings awoke at 4 a.m. on Thursday and was served a final meal of a cheeseburger, fries and a soda. He had one visitor, whose identity officials declined to release, and refused the offer of a spiritual advisor.

Witnesses described a brief physical reaction after the lethal injection began at 6:04 p.m. Jennings jerked once, then twitched several times before becoming still around 6:06 p.m. An officer shook his shoulder and called his name, prompting one additional twitch. By 6:10 p.m., witnesses said his face had lost color. A physician entered the chamber at 6:19 p.m. and pronounced him dead one minute later.

Jennings’ case had cycled through the courts for decades. After his initial conviction, he twice won retrials on procedural grounds. His third and final conviction was handed down in March 1986.

Since his 1986 conviction, Jennings filed at least nine appeals, all unsuccessful. His legal challenges extended over 40 years, making the case one of Florida’s longest-running death penalty proceedings.

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