A man convicted of stabbing a woman to death during a home invasion robbery more than 30 years ago was executed Tuesday evening in Florida. 

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 Florida Supreme Court later vacated the sentence but affirmed the conviction, and Geralds was resentenced to death in 1992.

Asked if he had any last words, Geralds addressed someone by name, but the name was inaudible. He said, "I'm sorry that I missed you." He then added, "I loved you every day."

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.

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.

Execution was Florida's 18th so far in 2025

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.

According to court records, Tressa Pettibone's 8-year-old son found his mother beaten and stabbed to death on the kitchen floor of their Panama City home. Geralds was a carpenter who had previously done remodeling work at the home.

Geralds ran into Pettibone and her children at a shopping mall about a week before the killing, and Pettibone mentioned that her husband was away on business. Geralds later approached Pettibone's son at the video arcade and asked when the boy's father would return, and what time he and his sister left for and returned from school each day, according to court records.

Investigators found that Geralds pawned jewelry with traces of Pettibone's blood on it, and plastic ties used to bind Pettibone matched ties found in Geralds' car.

After a death warrant was signed 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.

Fourty-five died by court-ordered execution in U.S. so far in 2025

A total of 45 prisoners have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and a handful of executions are scheduled for the rest of the year. 

Since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the 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 for next week in the state under death warrants signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Frank Athen Walls, 58, is scheduled for Florida's 19th execution this year on Dec. 18. He was convicted of fatally shooting a man and woman during a home invasion robbery and later confessed to three other killings.

Florida's lethal injections are carried out with a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.