Florida sets execution date for man who raped and murdered 6-year-old girl in 1979

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A man convicted of raping and killing a 6-year-old girl in central Florida is scheduled to be put to death in November under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who continues to set a record pace for executions.

Bryan Fredrick Jennings, 66, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Nov. 13 at Florida State Prison. Jennings would be the 16th person set for execution in Florida in 2025, with DeSantis overseeing more executions in a single year than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

DeSantis signed the death warrant Friday, just days before the scheduled execution Tuesday of Samuel Lee Smithers. Another convicted killer, Norman Mearle Grim Jr., is set to die Oct. 28.

Jennings was convicted of murder, kidnapping and sexual battery and sentenced to death in 1986 after two previous convictions were overturned.

According to court records, Jennings climbed through the window of a Brevard County home in May 1979 and abducted 6-year-old Rebecca Kunash. Investigators said Jennings drove the girl to an area near a Merritt Island canal and raped her. Following the assault, Jennings smashed the girl's head on the ground and then drowned her in the nearby canal, where police later found her body.

A short time later, Jennings was arrested on a traffic warrant, and police eventually linked him to the girl's murder.

Attorneys for Jennings are expected to file appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

So far 35 people have been executed in the U.S. in 2025 , with Florida leading the way behind a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis. The most recent execution in Florida was the Sept. 30 lethal injection of Victory Tony Jones, convicted of killing a married couple during a 1990 robbery in South Florida.

The previous record for executions in one year in Florida was eight, most recently in 2014.