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Florida ex-Marine executed nearly 50 years after kidnapping, rape, murder of 6-year-old Merritt Island girl
fox ^ | November 13, 2025 | esther brewer

Posted on 11/13/2025 4:29:26 PM PST by xxqqzz

A Florida man convicted of kidnapping a 6-year-old girl from her bedroom and drowning her in a canal more than 40 years ago was put to death on Thursday night.

Bryan Jennings, 66, was declared dead shortly after 6:20 p.m at the Florida State Prison. Jennings died by lethal injection, according to the Associated Press. Jenning's execution marks the 16th execution in Florida this year.

He was sentenced to death in 1979 for the abduction, rape, and brutal killing of 6-year-old Rebecca "becky" Kunash in Brevard County.

According to records, Jennings, a 20-year-old Marine at the time, was in Florida on leave from service in Japan. He reportedly had been drinking at a bar and, while walking home, opened the window to the little girl's bedroom at her Merritt Island home and took her.

"He’s an evil evil person"

He brought her to a secluded canal where he raped her and drowned her, records said.

He was tried and convicted three times over the years: 1979, 1982, and 1986. Dozens of appeals have been filed – and rejected, leading up to Thursday's execution.

To wait this long is not justice for Rebecca

It took nearly 50 years for Rebecca's killer to be sentenced.

Most of the state prosecutors who worked on Rebecca's case are no longer with the State Attorney's Office, except for Michael Hunt. He prosecuted Jennings in 1982 and said he can still visualize the place where Rebecca's body was found and the details of her murder.

"The death of an innocent child is something that you never forget," he said.

ppened."

(Excerpt) Read more at fox35orlando.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: bryanjennings; execution; pjcomix
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1979 rape/murder of 6-year-old. First two convictions and death sentences reversed for errors in trial. Was about to be executed in 1989 when Florida Supreme Court granted stay. Was 20 year-old Marine at time of murder. Executed at 66.
1 posted on 11/13/2025 4:29:26 PM PST by xxqqzz
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To: xxqqzz
The victim...sad 😢



[All pictures are posted for Educational Purposes
in accordance with Fair Use]

2 posted on 11/13/2025 4:32:42 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: xxqqzz

rest in pieces.


3 posted on 11/13/2025 4:32:52 PM PST by Phoenix8
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To: xxqqzz

Justice delayed is justice denied.

Personally I thought the late Wally George captured it best at the taping I attended: “I believe executions need to be expedited. We should execute the criminal 24 hours after the jury delivers the sentence.”


4 posted on 11/13/2025 4:33:26 PM PST by KingofZion
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To: xxqqzz

When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. Ecclesiastes 8:11


5 posted on 11/13/2025 4:34:27 PM PST by Vision (“Our Democracy” means "Our Slush Fund." The Left is hate.)
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To: xxqqzz

Burn in hell


6 posted on 11/13/2025 4:41:56 PM PST by Bigg Red ( Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.)
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To: xxqqzz

The attorneys that filed endless appeals for him should share a place in hell with him. Those people are disgusting.


7 posted on 11/13/2025 4:43:15 PM PST by montag813
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To: KingofZion
“I believe executions need to be expedited. We should execute the criminal 24 hours after the jury delivers the sentence.”

I'd give death penalty convicts a year to make a valid case that their conviction was a mistake. It also gives them time to get right with the Lord.

Day 366 after conviction? No believable case to disprove factual guilt entered into the judicial system? That's the day the sentence should be carried out.

8 posted on 11/13/2025 4:58:33 PM PST by Yossarian
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To: KingofZion

Truman Capote said something similar.


9 posted on 11/13/2025 4:59:01 PM PST by AbolishCSEU (Amount of "child" support paid is inversely proportionate to mother's actual parenting of children)
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To: xxqqzz

Welp, he had 40+ years to get himself right with the Lord. I certainly hope he did that, and I hope he did whatever he could in prison to make amends for his heinous crimes. May his wasted life serve as an example to others.

I hope this sweet little girl’s surviving family members are finding some measure of peace in the wake of this man’s exiting the planet.


10 posted on 11/13/2025 5:04:04 PM PST by TXBlair (Temp tagline: Je suis Charlie. 9.10.25 May the good Lord receive and embrace you, Mr. Kirk.)
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To: xxqqzz

We can be comforted that the innocent child has been in heaven’s care. For the perp, Hell will deliver final punishment. He had 50 years to agonize over it.


11 posted on 11/13/2025 5:04:58 PM PST by Ciexyz (Prayers for America and Israel.)
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To: KingofZion

According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), 195 people on death row have been exonerated since 1973 due to prosecutorial misconduct, coerced confessions, recantation of testimony by witnesses, and advances in forensics, including DNA science.

Do you want your zeal for speed to lay an innocent person’s blood on your record?

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/


12 posted on 11/13/2025 5:06:31 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Jamestown1630

So who is committing all these murders?


13 posted on 11/13/2025 5:09:58 PM PST by AppyPappy (They don't call you a Nazi because they think you are one. They do it to justify violence. )
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To: xxqqzz

There are NO EX-Marines.

They still claim Bobbie Garwood, Clayton Lonetree and Lee Harvey Oswald. Once a Marine, Always a Marine.


14 posted on 11/13/2025 5:10:15 PM PST by Paal Gulli
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To: SaveFerris

Heart breaking.


15 posted on 11/13/2025 5:15:03 PM PST by Trump_Triumphant (“They recognized Him in the breaking of the Bread”.)
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To: Trump_Triumphant

Indeed

Quite horrific of a crime against that little girl


16 posted on 11/13/2025 5:21:27 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Jamestown1630
I was on a jury panel once for a case where the State was asking for the death penalty. I will tell you for me it was truly sobering for the judge to read the charges and the potential penalty while looking directly at the person the State wanted to kill.

I didn’t get selected for that jury, but to this day I can’t honestly say one way or the other what I think of the death penalty. Yes, I think some people deserve it. But do you want to be the person who says kill him? That to me is a heavy load to carry. Very heavy.

17 posted on 11/13/2025 5:21:45 PM PST by Ditto
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To: Jamestown1630

One or 2 years is plenty of time to get those appeals in and adjudicated. The reason why it takes so long is that the justice system allows slow walking with the appeals. Even then, as soon as the appeals are finished and denied....the week after sounds good for justice
What would possess someone to destroy a little girl...? Or any innocent person?


18 posted on 11/13/2025 5:27:33 PM PST by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find.)
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To: AppyPappy

I don’t understand the question. I’m sure a lot of murders have gone forever unsolved; and people have often been mistakenly convicted.

I’d rather be safe than sorry.


19 posted on 11/13/2025 5:28:03 PM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: Ditto

Do you want to be the guy that lets a killer get away with killing an innocent person? That’s heavy also.


20 posted on 11/13/2025 5:29:52 PM PST by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find.)
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