Bio 

Edward Dean Kennedy was born on May 25, 1945, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also known as “Sonny.” Before the 1981 murders, Kennedy had already been convicted of murder. On May 19, 1978, he and another man, Oliver Cochran, killed 33-year-old motel clerk Robert Brown during a robbery in Miami. Kennedy avoided a death sentence in that case and was instead sentenced to life imprisonment. He was sent to Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida.

By April 1981, Kennedy was serving that life sentence. Union Correctional Institution was near Florida State Prison, where Florida’s electric chair was housed. Kennedy’s later death sentence came from crimes committed after he escaped from custody. The escape turned a prisoner already serving life for murder into a fugitive who killed two more people within hours of leaving prison.

Murder Story

On April 11, 1981, Edward Dean Kennedy escaped from Union Correctional Institution with two other inmates. The other escapees were quickly captured, but Kennedy remained at large. While fleeing, he broke into a trailer home to find clothing, weapons, and supplies. The trailer belonged to the Cone family.

While Kennedy was inside the trailer, Floyd H. Cone Jr. arrived with his cousin, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Robert McDermon. Federal court records state that Kennedy came out from behind a curtain and held Cone at gunpoint, ordering him to call McDermon into the trailer. Cone signaled Kennedy’s position to McDermon, and McDermon fired toward Kennedy. Kennedy then emerged with a shotgun and returned fire. Both Cone and McDermon were killed in the exchange.

After the shootings, Kennedy fled to a nearby trailer and took a woman and her infant child hostage. The standoff lasted about an hour before he surrendered to police. He was arrested the same day.

Kennedy was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Floyd Cone and Robert McDermon. On December 4, 1981, a jury convicted him of both murders. The same jury recommended death, and the trial judge sentenced him to death for both offenses.

Kennedy appealed, raising issues about his confession, jury selection, photographs, jury instructions, and the prosecutor’s closing argument. On July 12, 1984, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and death sentences. Later postconviction challenges were also denied.

Kennedy’s execution was delayed several times. A scheduled execution in February 1986 was stayed, and he survived multiple death warrants before the sentence was finally carried out.

Edward Dean Kennedy was executed by electrocution at Florida State Prison on July 21, 1992. UPI reported that he died in the electric chair at 7:08 a.m.