STARKE, Fla. (AP) — In Florida, a man convicted of a brutal murder during a home invasion over three decades ago is slated for execution Tuesday evening.

Mark Allen Geralds, 58, faces a lethal injection at Florida State Prison, located near Starke, set to commence at 6 p.m. Geralds was found guilty of murder, armed robbery, burglary, and car theft, receiving a death sentence in 1990. Although the Florida Supreme Court overturned his initial sentencing, they upheld his conviction, leading to a re-sentencing to death in 1992.

This execution marks Florida’s 18th in 2025, setting a new state record for executions within a single year.

Court documents reveal that in February 1989, Tressa Pettibone’s 8-year-old son discovered her lifeless body, beaten and stabbed, on the kitchen floor of their Panama City residence. Geralds, a carpenter, had previously worked on renovations at their home.

Geralds encountered Pettibone and her children at a shopping mall roughly a week before the tragic event. During this chance meeting, Pettibone mentioned her husband’s absence due to a business trip. Geralds later approached Pettibone’s son at an arcade, inquiring about the father’s return and the children’s school schedule, as per court documents.

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.

A total of 44 men 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 Republican 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 confessing 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.