Mark Allen Geralds is scheduled to be executed for the 1989 murder of Tressa Lynn Pettibone, whose body was discovered by her son on the kitchen floor more than 36 years ago.
US expands death penalty methods
In modern history, most death row inmates faced one method of execution. There are now many other ways to die.
This story contains details of a violent crime that some readers may find disturbing.
A Florida man who stabbed a housewife to death and then orchestrated a daring prison escape will become the 18th man to be executed in the state this year, adding to the state’s death penalty record.
Mark Allen Gerards, 58, is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, Dec. 9, for the murder of Tressa Lynn Pettibone, a mother of two whose brutal body was found by her 8-year-old son in her Panama City Beach home in 1989.
At the time, Prosecutor Jim Appleman called the murder “one of the most brutal cases ever” in the area. “The brutal beating he inflicted on Tressa Pettibone was outrageous,” Appleman told jurors, according to an archived Associated Press report.
Geralds decided not to fight the death penalty. His lawyers have previously argued that he did not receive a fair trial because jurors who saw gruesome crime scene photos were biased against him.
Here’s what you need to know about the case, including how Gerards escaped from prison with four other inmates while awaiting trial.
When and where will the death penalty be carried out?
The state of Florida is scheduled to execute Mark Allen Geralds at 6 p.m. ET at the Florida State Penitentiary in Raeford.
The state has executed 17 inmates so far this year, far surpassing the state’s previous annual highs of eight in 1984 and 2014. Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed more death warrants than any other governor in state history, and in May he said he wants to end families waiting sometimes decades for their loved ones to be executed.
Gerards is also scheduled to become the 45th inmate to be put to death in the United States this year, a number not reached since 2010. Death penalty experts blame the rise in executions on the political climate under pro-death penalty President Donald Trump and a more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
What was Mark Allen Geralds convicted of?
On February 1, 1989, eight-year-old Bart Pettibone came home from school to discover the unthinkable: his mother’s bloody body on the kitchen floor. Tressa Lynn Pettibone, 33, was beaten, bound, gagged and fatally stabbed twice in the neck and once in the side. The coroner determined that her wrists had been tied with a plastic tie for at least 20 minutes before she was killed.
Designer sunglasses and jewelry were stolen from the house, and Tressa’s Mercedes was also missing.
According to court records, Bart and his sister, Bryce, then 14, played a pivotal role in the ensuing investigation. They told police that about a week before their mother was killed, they were with their mother at the mall when they encountered Mark Gerards, a 22-year-old carpenter who was doing some renovation work on a house.
During their chat, the children recalled that their mother had mentioned that her husband, Kevin, was away on a business trip. Shortly after, Burt recalled Gerards walking up to him in a shopping mall arcade and asking when his father would be home and if the children always went to school.
Police later discovered that Gerards had pawned a gold herringbone necklace that matched the one missing from Pettibone’s home and gave the sunglasses to a friend. A plastic tie that matched the one used on Tressa matched a tie found in Gerards’ car, according to court records.
Prosecutors told jurors that Gerards had come to the house looking for $7,000 in cash and knew it was there, beating Pettibone to find out where it was.
“Tressa Pettibone was subjected to 20 minutes of painful beatings and torture,” they said. “She bled to death in her home. She was a caring woman…and she took her last gasp in her home, breathing blood into her lungs.”
A jury found Gerards guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to death.
Who is Tressa Lynn Pettibone?
Tressa Lynn Pettibone is a 33-year-old married mother originally from Ohio before settling with her husband in the charming and upscale waterfront neighborhood of Panama City, located between Pensacola and Tallahassee in northwest Florida.
Tressa’s children went on to have children of their own. She is the grandmother of at least five children, and one of her granddaughters is named after her.
Pettibone’s daughter Bryce posts a tribute to her mother every Mother’s Day, and in her 2024 post, she said she treasures each of the few photos of her and her mother.
“Happy Mother’s Day in Heaven, Mom!” she wrote. “Thank you for setting the bar high. You taught me how to be a mother and I am so grateful for your example.”
In May 2020, she wrote that she had never wanted her mother to be with her “just to talk to me.”
“There have been many times over the years that I wish I had asked her for advice. I will miss having her in my corner when life gets tough,” she wrote. “She believed in her family and would fight like a caged lion if she messed with her children! She was a great protector and defender and loved her family with all of her heart.”
In 2022, the family suffered another shocking tragedy when Tressa’s son, Bart Pettibone, suddenly passed away at the age of 41, leaving behind a wife and three children. His obituary said Tressa “went home to be with his loving mother and Jesus.”
Who is Mark Allen Geralds?
Mark Allen Geralds was a 22-year-old with eight previous convictions when he robbed the Pettibones after working construction work for them.
During the sentencing portion of Gerards’ trial, lawyers argued that he should be spared the death penalty because of his youth, his “love and concern” for his daughter and wife, his bipolar manic personality disorder and the fact that he “came from a divorced family and was not loved by his mother,” according to court records.
In 1990, Gerards made headlines when he escaped from prison while awaiting trial.
Geralds was being held at the Bay County Jail, the first private prison in Florida history, according to archived news reports. His wife was accused of slipping a saw blade on Mr. Gerald during the visit.
He and four other high-security inmates used the knives to cut through metal frames and punch out windows on the sixth floor. Then they climbed down a rope made of sheets and blankets. Gerald and most of the other prisoners were recaptured within hours of their escape.
When is the next execution?
The next execution in the United States is scheduled for this week in Tennessee. The state is scheduled to execute serial rapist Harold Wayne Nichols on Thursday, Dec. 11, for the 1988 rape and murder of 20-year-old Karen Pooley.
Two more executions are scheduled for this year, one in Georgia and one in Florida. This puts the US on pace to kill 48 people in 2025.
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter covering cold case investigations and capital punishment for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
