STARKE, Fla. — Richard Knight, 47, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison after receiving a three-drug lethal injection for the 2002 stabbing deaths of Odessia Stephens and her 4-year-old daughter Hanessia Mullings, state officials said.

The execution was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Knight’s final appeal without comment. When the curtain opened, Knight was already strapped to the gurney with an IV line in place. He gave a brief final statement: “I want to give thanks to Yahweh, who is the most high.” The drugs then began flowing and Knight closed his eyes, showing little movement, before a medic pronounced him dead about 10 minutes later.

According to court records, Knight had been living with his cousin, the cousin’s girlfriend Stephens and their daughter in a Coral Springs home. After frequent arguments, Stephens told Knight he would have to move out the next morning. Knight became angry and stabbed Stephens multiple times, then attacked the girl.

Hans Mullings, the father of Hanessia and Stephens’ boyfriend, witnessed the execution and afterward told reporters, “The pain never leaves. We love them still, and we can’t stop loving them. We miss them a lot.” Stephens’ sisters and mother, who did not attend, provided a statement saying they felt “a profound sense of peace and finality” and adding, “Richard, may our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ grant you the mercy you failed to give our loved ones.”

Florida’s seventh execution of 2026 follows a record 19 executions in 2025, the most under any Florida governor since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. Governor Ron DeSantis oversaw that record year. The United States overall had 47 executions in 2025.

The same week, Tennessee halted the planned execution of Tony Carruthers after officials could not find a suitable vein for a backup IV line, and Arizona executed Leroy Dean McGill for a 2002 killing. Florida is scheduled to execute Andrew Richard Lukehart on June 2 for the 1996 beating death of his girlfriend’s infant daughter.