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.

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.

According to court records, Knight had been living in Coral Springs, near Fort Lauderdale, with his cousin, his cousin’s girlfriend and their daughter in June 2000. Knight and Stephens frequently argued about Knight living there. One evening while Knight’s cousin was at work, Stephens told Knight that he would need to move out the next morning. Knight became angry and stabbed Stephens multiple times and then attacked the young girl, officials said.

While being held at the Broward County Jail following his arrest, Knight confessed the killings to another inmate, who testified against Knight during his trial.

The Florida Supreme Court denied Knight’s appeals last Friday. The court rejected his claim of newly discovered evidence, pointing out that an unidentified fingerprint found on a knife at the murder scene was known about and addressed during Knight’s original trial. The court also rejected claims based on Florida’s execution protocols and warrant process.

A final appeal was still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

A total of 47 people were executed in the U.S. in 2025. Florida led the way with a flurry of death warrants signed by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas tied for second with five executions each.

An execution was scheduled for Thursday in Tennessee. And another execution is planned in Florida on June 2. Andrew Richard Lukehart, 53, was convicted of fatally beating of his girlfriend’s infant daughter in 1996.

All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.

A Florida man was arrested Monday after investigators uncovered suspected human remains buried at a Marion County property while investigating the disappearance of his father, according to authorities and an arrest affidavit viewed by Fox News Digital.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said deputies began investigating the disappearance of 43-year-old Andres Bahamon-Prada on May 16, after a family member reported he had not been seen since May 7.

Authorities said Bahamon-Prada lived with his 25-year-old son, Andres Bahamon, at a home in Dunnellon.

During the investigation, detectives uncovered evidence suggesting foul play may have been involved in Bahamon-Prada’s disappearance, prompting authorities to investigate the case as a homicide.

TEXAS COUPLE ARRESTED AFTER BODY OF SPECIAL NEEDS SON, 26, DISCOVERED BURIED IN BACKYARD

According to the affidavit viewed by Fox News Digital, Bahamon initially told deputies he last saw his father on the evening of May 7, after Bahamon-Prada returned home and claimed someone unknown was coming to pick him up.

Detectives also noted Bahamon-Prada’s silver 2007 Infiniti M35 disappeared from the property several days later and remains missing.

The victim’s mother later told investigators she believed Bahamon killed his father after she encountered him near a local store, according to the affidavit. She told deputies the suspect said he believed the victim was dead and “in hell where he deserves to be” because he was “an evil person” and a “junkie.”

When deputies responded to the Dunnellon property on May 18, investigators reported finding shattered glass doors with what appeared to be a bullet hole, a shell casing near the porch, suspected bloodstains and freshly disturbed dirt in the backyard, according to the affidavit.

MAN UNCOVERS MISSING FATHER’S BONES BURIED BENEATH FAMILY HOME, UNLEASHING ‘A THOUSAND’ OTHER SECRETS

Authorities also learned Bahamon allegedly sent his mother, who lives in Germany, a photograph depicting a man appearing deceased near wooden steps at the property, investigators said. According to the affidavit viewed by Fox News Digital, the image appeared to show a man matching Bahamon-Prada’s description lying motionless beside the steps with a large red stain visible near his head and shirt.

Detectives later obtained a search warrant for the property and discovered what they described as a large rolled carpet buried beneath freshly disturbed dirt.

“Upon investigating and digging into that area of dirt, detectives encountered the odor of decomposition,” the affidavit states.

FLORIDA MAN ALLEGEDLY STUFFED HUMAN REMAINS IN TWO SUITCASES FOUND IN REMOTE ‘COMPOUND’

Authorities said detectives ultimately uncovered suspected human remains inside the carpet, though investigators are still working to positively identify the remains.

As the investigation progressed, detectives identified Bahamon as a person of interest in the case. He was arrested Monday and charged with tampering with evidence in the missing-person investigation.

Investigators wrote in the affidavit that they believe Bahamon concealed or removed the victim’s body in an attempt to impair the homicide investigation.

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Authorities are continuing to search for Bahamon-Prada’s missing silver 2007 Infiniti M35, which detectives believe may contain evidence connected to the case.

Anyone with information about the vehicle or the investigation is urged to contact the Marion County Sheriff’s Office at 352-732-9111.

Opposition leaders in the Bahamas are demanding an investigation into a suspected drug trafficker who survived a recent plane crash near Florida and was allegedly found with roughly $30,000, according to a U.S. federal agent. The money was inside a bag labeled with the name of an unidentified high-ranking politician from the archipelago.

The suspect, who was deported to the Bahamas more than a decade ago after being convicted on drug and money laundering charges, is accused of trafficking cocaine through the Bahamas to the U.S.

He also is accused of meeting the unnamed politician in October 2024 at the Bahamian Parliament in Nassau to talk about a deal involving some 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of cocaine, according to a court document filed May 14 in the Southern District of New York, a day after the plane crash. It stated that the politician “could provide security for the planned cocaine shipment” and was introduced to an unnamed suspect as a “future associate.”

The allegations are the latest blow to the Bahamas, whose police commissioner resigned in December 2024 after a sergeant and two officers were indicted in what the U.S. Justice Department at the time called “a massive cocaine conspiracy enabled by corrupt Bahamian government officials.”

“Since at least May 2021, drug traffickers have smuggled tons of cocaine through The Bahamas for importation into the U.S. with the help and support of corrupt Bahamian government officials,” the Justice Department said in 2024 when announcing charges against the chief superintendent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Michael Pintard, leader of the opposition Free National Movement party, claimed Monday that he does not believe the Bahamas’ prime minister, who secured reelection the day of the plane crash, will hold anyone accountable.

“We issued warnings about the close relationship between members of this administration and characters of interest to police locally and internationally,” he told reporters.

Latrae Rahming, spokesman for the office of the prime minister, shared a statement with The Associated Press on Tuesday noting that the government is taking the matter “extremely seriously.” It stated that local law enforcement will launch its own inquiry and that the government will reach out to U.S. officials to seek the sharing of information and obtain any available evidence, adding that it has received no official information identifying any public official related to the case.

“The position of the Government of The Bahamas remains wherever wrongdoing is established, any person involved will be held accountable without fear or favor, and the chips will fall where they may,” the statement read.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent Michael Coleman asserted in his deposition that multiple drug trafficking organizations are ferrying loads “under the protection of local officials” in the Bahamas.

He alleged that the suspected drug trafficker who survived the plane crash owns a business he uses to “bid on Bahamian government-issued construction contracts and launder his narcotics trafficking proceeds.”

Coleman said the suspect was one of 11 people who survived the crash off the coast of Florida late last week. He was rescued and later arrested.  The pilot told CBS News he lost both engines, all communication and avionics in the lead-up to the crash.

“Basically, lost my navigation, all radios — flying over 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like that,” Ian Nixon, the 43-year-old Bahamian pilot and father of three, told CBS News. “I did my best. I had a lot of stuff going on in the aircraft — just trying to get that under control.”

Dr. Duane Sands, chairman of the Free National Movement party, told The Nassau Guardian newspaper on Monday that the current administration was bringing shame and embarrassment to the Bahamas as he called for a commission of inquiry.

“The Bahamian people are entitled to know,” he was quoted as saying. “The heart and soul of our country are at stake.”