Pensacola news you missed: Zakrzewski execution, GBHS teacher arrested and more
Here's a roundup of our top stories from the past week.
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Pensacola Housing Director resigns from city, fifth resignation in the last year
Pensacola Interim Housing Director Meredith Reeves has resigned from the city to take a job with another local government out of state.
Reeves's departure is the fifth senior-level city official to resign from the city in the last year.
Reeves, who is Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves' cousin, was hired at the city under Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson in 2021 as an assistant housing director. Robinson recruited Reeves from Escambia County, where she had been a division manager for several years, including Robinson’s time as a county commissioner.
Florida death row inmate Edward Zakrzewski has been executed | Recap
Edward Zakrzewski was executed on Thursday, three decades after brutally murdering his wife and kids and escaping to Hawaii. Zakrzewski became the ninth person to be executed in Florida, breaking a record set in 1984 and tied in 2014.
With six months of the year left to go, two more executions have already been set for Florida.
Kayle Barrington Bates is currently slated for execution on Aug. 19 for the 1982 murder of a woman in Bay County. Kayle Bates was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery in the1982 slaying of 24-year-old Janet Renee White of Lynn Haven.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed a death warrant this week for Curtis Windom, who was convicted of killing three people in 1992 in Orange County. Windom’s execution is scheduled for Aug. 28.
Burner phone, love letters uncovered alleged relationship between GBHS teacher and student
Santa Rosa County Sheriff's deputies arrested a 36-year-old Gulf Breeze High School teacher July 29 after she allegedly pursued a romantic relationship with at least one student.
Deputies arrested Molly Mersereau on two counts of using a two-way device to commit a felony, one count of criminal solicitation, one count of an authority figure engaging in a romantic relationship with a student and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Mariachi's and El Patron owner faces decades in federal prison for laundering, bank fraud
A local Mexican restaurant owner facing charges of fraud and money laundering will not be detained pending his federal criminal trial.
Cesar Campos-Reyes is the owner of Mariachi's Mexican Grill in Gulf Breeze and multiple locations of El Patron Mexican Grill in Pace and Pensacola, according to Florida business records.
Campos-Reyes was indicted in April on four counts of federal bank fraud, four counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Forbes' richest 'self-made woman' investing in Maritime Park Hard Rock Reverb hotel
The richest “self-made woman,” according to Forbes, is investing in Pensacola’s Community Maritime Park.
Diane Hendricks is partnering with Inspired Communities of Florida, also known as The Dawson Company, and Emmitt Smith’s EJ Smith Enterprises, to become a co-owner and co-developer of the planned Reverb by Hard Rock Hotel and Rhythm Lofts apartment development at Community Maritime Park.