STARKE, Fla. — A Florida man who admitted to fatally harming his girlfriend’s 5-month-old daughter and disposing of her body in a pond 30 years ago faces execution Tuesday night.
Andrew Richard Lukehart, 53, is slated to receive a lethal three-drug injection beginning at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in 1997 for killing baby Gabrielle Hanshaw in 1996, leading to his death sentence.
The execution would mark Florida’s eighth this year, coming after a record-breaking 19 executions in 2025. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis presided over more executions in 2025 than any Florida governor since capital punishment resumed in 1976. The prior record stood at eight executions in 2014.
Court documents reveal that in February 1996, Lukehart was babysitting his girlfriend’s infant while she tended to her sick older daughter at their Jacksonville residence. The girlfriend reported that Lukehart left the home in his vehicle, and baby Gabrielle was nowhere to be found. About half an hour later, Lukehart contacted his girlfriend and instructed her to contact authorities, claiming the infant had been abducted and he was pursuing the kidnapper.
That same evening, authorities located Lukehart in an adjacent county after his vehicle had crashed off the roadway. During interrogation the following day, Lukehart admitted to investigators that Gabrielle died when he dropped her on her head and subsequently shook her. He told officers he became frightened and disposed of the baby’s body in a pond. Authorities searched the water and recovered the child’s remains.
Last week, the Florida Supreme Court rejected Lukehart’s appeals. His legal team argued that kidney disease medication he was taking might interact dangerously with the execution drugs. They also contended that scheduling the execution just one month after the death warrant was signed violated his due process rights.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Lukehart’s final appeal.
Nationwide, 47 individuals were executed in 2025. Florida topped the list with numerous death warrants issued by DeSantis. Alabama, South Carolina and Texas each carried out five executions, tying for second place.
Florida has another execution scheduled later this month. Dusty Ray Spencer, 74, received a death sentence for the fatal stabbing of his wife in 1992.
The state Department of Corrections reports that all Florida executions use lethal injection involving a sedative, a paralytic agent and a drug that stops the heart.
