{"id":77755,"date":"2025-12-10T00:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T00:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/77755\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T00:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T00:50:10","slug":"florida-man-executed-for-the-killing-of-a-woman-during-a-home-invasion-decades-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/77755\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man executed for the killing of a woman during a home invasion decades ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

STARKE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A man convicted of fatally stabbing a woman during a home invasion decades ago was executed Tuesday evening in Florida.<\/p>\n

Mark Allen Geralds, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison for the February 1989 murder of Tressa Pettibone. The execution was the 18th in Florida this year, further extending the state record for total executions in a single year with one more planned next week. <\/p>\n

Asked if he had any last words, Geralds addressed someone by name, but the name was inaudible. He said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry that I missed you.\u201d He then added, \u201cI loved you every day.\u201d <\/p>\n

Once the drugs began flowing, he took about a dozen deep breaths. His body then quivered and twitched, his mouth opening and closing. Within three or four minutes, Geralds became still. <\/p>\n

After the execution was carried out, a victim advocate from the state attorney\u2019s office read a statement on behalf of the Pettibone family. It said the family has \u201cendured so much as this long legal journey has seemed unending at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow, when we wake up, it will be the first time in nearly 37 years that we don\u2019t have to worry about another appeal being filed or another law changing that could potentially thwart the justice we have been fighting so hard for for so long,\u201d the family said.<\/p>\n

Florida Department of Corrections spokesperson Jordan Kirkland said eight people associated with Pettibone were at the prison for the execution, but it was not clear how many of them were in the room as witnesses. None of them directly addressed reporters.<\/p>\n

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Pettibone was attacked in her Panama City home on Feb. 1, 1989. Later that day, her 8-year-old son arrived home from school and found his mother fatally stabbed on the kitchen floor, according to court records. Geralds was a carpenter who had previously done remodeling work at the home about a year before.<\/p>\n

About a week before the killing, Geralds ran into Pettibone and her two children at a shopping mall, and Pettibone mentioned that her husband was away on business. Later Geralds approached Pettibone\u2019s son at the video arcade and asked when the boy\u2019s father would return and what time he and his sister left for and returned from school each day, according to the records.<\/p>\n

Investigators found that Geralds had subsequently pawned jewelry with traces of Pettibone\u2019s blood on it, and plastic ties used to bind Pettibone matched ties found in Geralds\u2019 car, the records showed.<\/p>\n

Geralds was convicted of murder, armed robbery and other charges and sentenced to death in 1990. The Florida Supreme Court later vacated the sentence but affirmed the conviction, and Geralds was resentenced to death in 1992.<\/p>\n

After a death warrant was signed<\/a> last month and his execution date set, Geralds told a judge he did not wish to pursue any further appeals. The judge signed off on that decision.<\/p>\n

Pettibone\u2019s family described her in their statement as \u201ca faithful wife, loving mother, daughter, sister, aunt and dedicated friend.\u201d Her family \u201cwas her world, and everything she did centered around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

They recalled her love for the holiday season, describing her as a \u201cChristmas nut\u201d who decorated the house with lights, multiple trees and \u201cornate Santa Clauses and reindeer\u201d and baked cookies, bread, cakes and pies. She enjoyed making gifts, and her family said they still display her handmade crafts every year.<\/p>\n

Pettibone \u201cwas a wonderful person with a family and many friends who loved her dearly,\u201d the statement said. \u201cToday we crossed the finish line for her, and we close this very painful chapter in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Including Tuesday\u2019s execution, a total of 45 men<\/a> have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., with a handful of executions scheduled in what remains of the year. <\/p>\n

Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the last highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year. Another execution is planned next week in the state under death warrants signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n

Frank Athen Walls, 58, is scheduled for Florida\u2019s 19th execution this year on Dec. 18. He was convicted of fatally shooting a man and woman during a home invasion robbery and later confessing to three other killings.<\/p>\n

Florida executions are by lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer David Fischer in Miami contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STARKE, Fla. (AP) \u2014 A man convicted of fatally stabbing a woman during a home invasion decades ago…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1312,265,1882,28,30,29,32822,477,1109,43696,1105,30587,26309,1840,412,2425,26310,1110],"class_list":["post-77755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-capital-punishment","tag-crime","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-frank-athen-walls","tag-general-news","tag-homicide","tag-jordan-kirkland","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-local-news-for-apple","tag-mark-allen-geralds","tag-prisons","tag-ron-desantis","tag-theft","tag-tressa-pettibone","tag-u-s-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}