A Florida man has been scheduled for execution in May for the stabbing murders of Odessia Stephens and her 4-year-old daughter, Hanessia Mullings, in Broward County in 2000. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued the death warrant on April 22, just one day after the state executed Chadwick Willacy for setting his neighbor on fire in 1990 during a home burglary.
Richard Knight, 47, was sentenced to death in 2007 for murders that court records described as “heinous, atrocious, and cruel.”
Prosecutors said that after Odessia Stephens, his cousin’s girlfriend, gave him an ultimatum to move out of their Coral Springs home, he strangled and stabbed the six-weeks-pregnant woman 21 times, mostly in her neck, stopping to strangle and stab her child five times.
This is the eighth death warrant DeSantis has issued this year as part of the same accelerated schedule that saw the state put to death a record 19 people in 2025, four times the executions as any other state in the country and more than twice Florida’s previous record.
Advocacy groups such as Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) and the Equal Justice Group, and attorneys for the last several condemned inmates, have argued that Florida is not following its lethal injection policy and is subjecting inmates to cruel and unusual suffering during executions, a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Defense attorneys have pointed to documents released in 2025, saying they show that in several incidents the state used the wrong or expired chemicals or insufficient dosages. The Florida Supreme Court has steadfastly refused subsequent requests for more execution records to be released.
The next execution scheduled in Florida is on Tuesday, April 30. James E. Hitchcock is scheduled to be put to death in Florida for raping and strangling to death his 13-year-old step-niece, Cynthia Driggers, in Orlando in 1976.
When will Richard Knight be executed?
Richard Knight is scheduled to die by lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. ET May 21, 2026, at Florida State Prison in Starke.
Who is Richard Knight?
Richard Andrew Knight is a Jamaican native who was abandoned by his mother as a child and adopted by the Knights. In 1998, he came to the United States with his then-employer and decided to stay. By 2000, he was living with his cousin, Hans Mullings, in Coral Springs, along with Mullings’ girlfriend and their daughter.
Multiple witnesses attested to his good upbringing and strong work ethic, court records show, although he had a history of blackouts and seizures. He was previously convicted for battery on a child between 12-15 and indecent assault on a child under 16, all in Broward County.
Why did Richard Knight kill Odessia Stephens and Hanessia Mullings?
Richard Knight at home with Odessia Stephens and her child the evening of June 27, 2000, while Mullings was at work. Prosecutors said he and Stephens frequently argued about his living there, and she gave him an ultimatum to be out the next morning.
According to a confession Knight later made to another man in jail, he left the house for a walk but became increasingly angry. When he came back home, they argued again in her room, and he went into the kitchen to get a knife.
Knight stabbed Stephens multiple times until she stopped defending herself, investigators said, before turning to the child and strangling and stabbing her to death. After the knife broke during that attack, he got another knife to return to Stephens, who had crawled to the living room. Autopsies showed evidence of strangulation with a belt or similar object, bruises from being punched, and defensive wounds on both her hands.
Stephens was six weeks pregnant with her second child at the time, The Sun-Sentinel reported in 2000.
Knight confessed that he hid his clothes, showered, and cleaned the knives, but climbed out of his bedroom window after police officers knocked on the door. An officer spotted him outside, where he said he had been jogging despite his work shoes. The crime scene investigation found Stephens’ blood on his shirt, his bloody clothes under the sink, and his hand, and Knight’s DNA was found underneath Stephens’ fingernails.
Multiple appeals have been denied, records show.
“He deserves to die for what he’s done,” Knight’s cousin Hans Mullings said when Knight was sentenced, according to The Sun-Sentinel. “I just wish he died in a graphic way. … They suffered a lot and he won’t. … He’s just going to be put to sleep and he’s gone.”
Who is the next person to be executed in Florida?
On Tuesday, April 30, James E. Hitchcock is scheduled to be put to death in Florida for raping and strangling to death his 13-year-old step-niece, Cynthia Driggers, in 1976.
How many people are on Florida’s death row?
As of April 23, there are 247 people on death row in Florida. The stats break down to 246 men (154 White, 81 Black, 11 other) and one Black woman.
How many death row inmates has Florida executed?
From 1924 until May 1964, the state of Florida executed 196 people. There were no executions from May 1964 until May 1976.
In 1972, the United States Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, but it was reinstated in 1976. Florida has carried out 130 executions since then.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida to execute man for stabbing deaths of woman, her 4-year old child
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
