Man guilty of killing a woman and her daughter is set to be Florida’s 7th execution of 2026

STARKE, Fla.— A Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing of his cousin’s girlfriend and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter is set to be executed Thursday evening

STARKE, Fla.— A Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing of his cousin’s girlfriend and the couple’s 4-year-old daughter is set to be executed Thursday evening.

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Richard Knight, 47, is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. Knight was sentenced to death after being convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in 2006 for the deaths of Odessia Stephens and her four-year-old child, Hanessia Mullings.

This would be Florida’s seventh execution so far this year, following a record 19 executions in 2025. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw more executions in a single year in 2025 than any other Florida governor since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The previous record was set in 2014 with eight executions.