At 8:41pm On September 11, 1998, a 911 dispatcher in Okaloosa County, Florida answered a call from a man whose voice sounded frantic and broken. Yes ma’.

Am.

Mom, I just shot my family. I love my family. Mom, I love my family. He kept repeating this as dispatchers tried to keep him on the line.

Welcome to Love and Murder, Heartbreak to Homicide. We’re Kai’s AI co hosts Jensen, Jessica and Gein, bringing you another Florida Man Friday episode written by Kai and told with the victim in mind.

now without further ado, let’s.

Get back to your Florida Man Friday.

When deputies arrived minutes later at the Crestview home that 35 year old Jeffrey Hutchinson shared with his girlfriend and um, her three children. They found Jeffrey lying in the garage covered in blood, still holding the phone connected to the 911 operator. He was in a daze, muttering to himself inside of the home. The scene was horrific. 32 year old Renee Flaherty and her children, 9 year old Jeffrey, 7 year old Amanda and 4 year old Logan were all dead. Each had been shot with a 12 gauge pistol grip shotgun.

Oh my God.

Before this night, Jeffrey had lived a life that seemed steady. Born on November 6, 1962, he was raised in Florida and later in Washington. Before his military service, he worked as a mechanic and a security guard. Then he went on to serve eight years in the U.S. army as an elite paratrooper, uh, and Ranger during the Gulf War. His service left him with Gulf War illness, PTSD and brain damage linked to chemical exposure.

Gulf War illness is a condition associated with problems like pain, memory loss, and insomnia. I’ve heard stories for years about people who served in the Gulf War and came back with illnesses that doctors couldn’t fully explain. Some talked about chronic fatigue, nerve pain, memory loss, or even strange rashes that never went away. Others were suddenly allergic to foods they’d never had issues with before. It’s heartbreaking because so many of them were dismissed or told it was all in their heads. The term Gulf War illness eventually came up, but even then, it felt like no one really wanted to take responsibility or dig into what caused it. Chemical exposure, vaccines, or something else entirely. These veterans sacrificed a lot, and decades later, many are still fighting just to have their symptoms acknowledged, let alone treated. It’s one of those quiet injustices that doesn’t make headlines, but leaves a trail of suffering.

Speaking of chemical exposure, military records showed that Jeffrey’s unit was exposed to chemical warfare during Operation Desert Storm, which ended up permanently affecting his brain. During deployment, he’d been exposed to sarin gas multiple times when chemical alarms went off in his camp. And his unit also endured shockwaves from nearby Scud missile attacks. Those experiences left lasting damage. Later, brain scans showed visible injuries, with neuroimaging revealing major abnormalities in his frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls impulse, judgment, and reasoning.

How was he not getting constant treatment and being closely monitored after that? The man had documented brain damage from chemical exposure and trauma, but he was just outliving his life with no consistent care, no observation, nothing. How does someone go through that kind of neurological injury, come back clearly struggling, and still slip through every system that’s supposed to help veterans? It’s like he was left to unravel on his own, and everyone just looked the other way.

After his honorable discharge, Jeffrey was diagnosed with Gulf War illness and PTSD by Veterans affairs doctors. His medical records showed that things got worse over time. He started having memory lapses, paranoia, and, um, sudden outbursts of rage. He often told doctors he believed government agents were watching him, and that paranoia only got stronger in the months leading up to the murders. Jeffrey had been twice divorced and was now living with Renee. The couple had moved with her three kids from Washington to Florida, hoping for a fresh start. Renee was described by her brother as a tough woman who worked hard to provide for her children. At the time she began her relationship with Jeffrey. Renee was estranged from her husband, who was stationed in Alaska. On the evening of September 11, 1998, Jeffrey and Renee had gotten into an argument. Jeffrey stormed out, packed some belongings and guns into his truck and drove to a nearby amve m ts bar. He drank beer and vented to the bartender about being pissed off with Renee. Witnesses said he left the bar angry and drove off recklessly. Renee called her mother shortly after he’d left the house, saying that she didn’t know where he was and that he’d taken her keys next. She’d told a friend that she was planning to leave him soon, but the friend told her to hang on for a few more days so that they could help get her out. Less than an hour after leaving the bar, Jeffrey returned home. He kicked in the front door, walked to the master bedroom and opened fire with a Mossberg 12 gauge pistol grip shotgun. Renee was killed first, shot once in the head while lying in bed. Amanda and Logan, who were also in the master bedroom, were next, each killed with a single headshot. Jeffrey, who had been standing in the doorway, witnessed the carnage. Then Jeffrey fired two shots at him. One in the chest and one in the head. Minutes later, Jeffrey picked up the phone and called 91 1. But even during that call, his story didn’t make sense. First, he’d said that he was the one who shot his family. Then he started saying something about some guys being at the house. Two masked intruders had broken in and committed the murders. However, the arriving officers noted that the physical evidence didn’t match Jeffrey’s convoluted story. First, there were no signs of forced entry beyond the front door. He’d broken down. Second, first responders noted that gunshot residue covered his hands, along with tissue from Jeffrey on his leg. And finally, none of the victims had defensive wounds, suggesting that anyone else had been present. Then the only stocking mask they found in the yard turned out to be part of the family’s pool filter. Police found the still, loaded shotgun on a kitchen counter and took it into evidence. Jeffrey was arrested at the scene without resistance and charged with four counts of first degree murder. On October 5, 1998, an Okaloosa county grand jury indicted Jeffrey on four counts of first degree premeditated murder. But it took years to actually get to trial. The case kept getting pushed back. It was first set for September 1999, then delayed time and time again through 2000 and 2001. Jeffrey fired two of his lawyers, filed an insanity defence and even tried to represent himself for a short time. Then on January 7, 2001, Circuit Judge G. Robert Barron ruled that he was mentally competent to stand trial. At his trial, which started on January 8, 2001, prosecutors presented the 911 call, forensic evidence and, um, witness testimony showing Jeffrey was the only possible shooter. Two of Jeffrey’s friends testified that it was his voice on the recorded 911 call confirming his identity as the caller who confessed to the killings. Jeffrey’s brother Dan testified that he’d talked to him on the phone earlier that evening and heard him and Renee joking around like they always did. This testimony added to the weirdness in the abruptness of the change in atmosphere.

Right. Like how did you go from joking around to murder?

Jeffrey maintained his innocence, claiming that two men wearing ski masks had broken into the house and he struggled with them before they shot Renee, the children and fled.

I did not kill Renee and the kids and I believe I was framed.

The prosecution argued that although Jeffrey said he fought with multiple intruders at the time of his arrest, he had no injuries whatsoever on his body. Then Jeffrey claimed he was heavily intoxicated at the time, suggesting the crime was a crime of passion rather than first degree murder.

Uh, so the defense is basically throwing spaghetti at the wall at this point?

That’s what it seems like. Next, the defense focused on Jeffrey’s mental health and how his military service had affected him. A psychiatrist for the defense, William Balmes Weiger, uh, testified about Jeffrey’s brain damage and uncontrollable rage. He also argued that Jeffrey was bipolar and intoxicated at the time, saying those factors made him ineligible for the death penalty.

I mean, literally, the only defense they haven’t tried is arguing that grown man Jeffrey was a minor neuropsychologist.

Dr. Robert Wall found that Jeffrey had organic brain dysfunction which affected his impulse control and judgment. Other, uh, psychiatric experts agreed that his brain damage matched what you’d expect from chemical exposure during military service. A, uh, behavioral neurologist testified that the damage to his frontal lobe made him prone to explosive anger and unable to fully grasp the consequences of what he was doing. State appointed psychologists pushed back on claims about how severe Jeffrey’s mental health issues really were. Their evaluations found that he understood what he did was wrong and that he was capable of following the law. They also pointed out that he first confessed and then tried to come up with another story, saying that showed clear rational thinking, not delusion. The judge rejected the defence’s argument, finding no link between the illness and the murders. After a nine day trial on January 18, 2001, the jury took less than a day to convict him on all four counts of first degree murder. Jeffrey waived his right to be sentenced by a jury, leaving the decision of life imprisonment or death solely to the judge. Judge Barron explicitly rejected the defence’s argument of diminished responsibility due to mental illness and intoxication. He recognised Jeffrey’s GWI diagnosis and army service, but said that there had been, quote, no correlation between the murders of these victims and the defendant’s diagnosis of Gulf War illness established. He said that there had been clear premeditation. By leaving the home, drinking at a bar, then returning armed with a shotgun, the judge found that the murders of the children carried additional aggravating factors due to their young ages. Regarding Jeffrey, the murder was found to be, quote, especially heinous, atrocious and cruel because the child was alive and wounded in the chest when killed with a headshot. During the trial, the pathologist had testified that Jeffrey was still alive after the first blast to his chest and saw his family’s bodies before Jeffrey fired a final shot into his head.

Oh my God, that’s horrible.

On February 6, 2001, Judge Barron sentenced Jeffrey to life in prison for Renee’s murder and three death sentences for the murders of each of the three children. In his ruling, the judge talked about Jeffrey’s death, saying, the defendant walked over.

To that nine year old boy and without pity and without conscience, aimed the shotgun one final time. Imagine that the boy heard the chilling sound of the shot shells being racked.

On February 6, Jeffrey was transferred to death row at Florida State Prison. Over the next two decades, Jeffrey filed multiple appeals claiming brain damage, PTSD and incompetence to be executed.

Incompetence to be executed, but you’re competent enough to know that you’re incompetent.

The defence team also argued for a stay based on Jeffrey’s competency to be executed, citing his persistent claim of innocence and, um, the home invader story as signs of a delusional belief caused by severe mental illness. Dr. Agha Karl, who evaluated Jeffrey, said he suffered from a delusional disorder that kept him from understanding his situation clearly. Attorney Maria Deliberato argued that Jeffrey’s constant insistence on his innocence was proof of that disorder, calling it a delusional belief based on his significant and, ah, severe mental illness and brain damage. Bradford County Circuit Judge James Collaw rejected this argument on April 27, 2025, ruling.

This court finds that Mr. Hutchinson’s purported delusion is demonstrably false. Geoffrey Hutchinson does not lack the mental capacity to understand the reason for the pending execution actually.

Courts at every level, including the Florida Supreme Court and US Supreme Court, rejected all of his appeals, stating his symptoms were known at the time of trial and that his persistent claims of innocence showed coherent, though misguided, thinking, not delusion. The Florida Supreme Court repeatedly upheld the sentences, emphasizing that the murder of three defenseless young children outweighed any mitigating factors. In early 2025, over 130 veterans representing every branch of the armed forces and collectively embodying over 900 years of military service, signed a handwritten letter to Governor Ron DeSantis pleading for clemency. The signatories included veterans of conflicts from Vietnam through Iraq and Afghanistan, spanning all regions of the United States.

They wrote, geoffrey Ranger Hutchinson is one of us. His mind was a casualty, just like any limb lost in combat.

They didn’t excuse the crime, but called executing a combat injured veteran a moral failure of the system that broke him. These veterans viewed his case as emblematic of the nation’s failure to care for its wounded warriors. The wrote that the planned execution was, quote, the final abandonment of someone our country broke and then left behind.

We can never be a veteran friendly state when our leader is signing off on their deaths.

Governor DeSantis denied the request, um, and signed the death warrant on March 31, 2025. With an execution date set. Jeffrey’s attorneys pursued fresh appeals based on newly discovered evidence of brain damage and cognitive impairment stemming from his Gulf War injuries, arguing this warranted an acquittal or a life sentence. The Florida Supreme Court rejected this appeal on April 21, 2025, stating that the scientific understanding of Gulf War illness had evolved. But Jeffrey’s symptoms and exposures, including the sarin gas, were well known during or before his trial on May 1. The execution, which was set for 6pm was delayed while the justices reviewed Jeffrey’s final appeals. Maria Deliberato, executive director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called the whole process a politically compromised rubber stamp. Shortly before the execution, the Supreme Court rejected Jeffrey’s final appeal without comment, sealing his fate. After decades of legal battles, Jeffrey had his last meal, consisting of salmon, mahi mahi, asparagus, ah, baked potato and iced tea. Then the 62 year old was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starker. He had no final words, only mumbled quietly to himself as the state’s three drug protocol involving etomidate rock, huronium bromide and potassium acetate took effect, making Jeffrey spasm for several minutes. He was pronounced dead at 8:15pm Wesley Elmore Renee’s brother travelled from Washington to witness the execution.

People who don’t walk in my shoes, they don’t understand that closure. You never get it. Justice is finally served.

Renee’s other brother, Darren Johnson, said that justice was finally served, but the pain never left.

Not a day goes by that we don’t think about the loved ones that were taken from us.

Jeffrey’s death closed a 27 year chapter that began with a single sentence on a 911 call, words that still echo through the case. Today I just shot my family. Jeffrey was the fourth person executed in Florida in 2025.

What do you think of this case? Let us know your thoughts below or in the Patreon. Patreon.com loveandmurder Although I empathize with the.

Brain damage that Jeffrey endured, I don’t believe it affected this situation. Maybe it affected his impulsivity in coming back angry and and shooting everyone.

Or that could have happened because he.

Was drunk, but I don’t think his mental illness had anything else to do with this case. I believe he knew what he did. He tried to blame it on other people and when that didn’t work, tried to blame it on gwi.

What do you think? Do you agree or do you think everyone is being too hard on Jeffery? Leave your comments below or in the Patreon we always love hearing from the LaM Patreon fam.

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Sam.