A Jacksonville man who confessed to killing his girlfriend’s five-month-old baby 30 years ago has been executed. This marks the eighth person executed in Florida this year. It’s been nearly three decades since Andrew Luke Hart was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of Gabrielle Handshaw.

A man was put to death by lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Stark, Florida on June 2nd, 2026 at 6:00 in the evening. His name was Andrew Richard Lukart, 53 years old. And the person he was executed for killing was 5 months old. Just five months. She had not yet learned to walk. She had not yet said her first word.

She was completely helpless, completely dependent on the adults around her to keep her safe. Andrew Lucart was one of those adults. But on the night of February 25th, 1996, he did not keep her safe. He killed her. And then he called the police and told them she had been kidnapped. He made up a story.

He sent law enforcement searching for a phantom suspect for 18 hours. What Andrew Lucart told police that night is almost impossible to believe. And what came out during his trial was even worse. And here is the part that makes this case even harder to process. At the time of the murder, Lucart was already on probation for felony child abuse against another infant. This is Redmark Files.

If this is your first time here, welcome. This channel covers real cases, real victims, and real justice. Hit that like button and subscribe to our channel so you never miss a story. And if you are already part of this community, thank you for coming back. Now, let’s get into it. Before we talk about what Andrew Lucart did, we need to talk about who Gabrielle Hansshaw was.

Gabrielle was born in Duval County, Florida in approximately September of 1995. She was 5 months old when she died. 5 months. At that age, a baby is just beginning to recognize familiar faces, just beginning to smile back at the people who hold her, just beginning to reach out for the world around her. She never got further than that.

Her mother was a young woman named Misty Rue. Misty was living in Jacksonville with her two daughters, Gabrielle and her older sister, Ashley. The household was full. Misty’s father and her uncle also lived there. It was a crowded working-class home in Jacksonville. The kind of home where people leaned on each other to get by. Andrew Lucart was Misty’s boyfriend.

At some point, he moved into that home. And just like that, he became part of the daily routine. He was around the girls. He helped with the children. In every practical sense, he was functioning as a caregiver, including for 5-month-old Gabrielle. Gabrielle had no say in any of that. She could not speak. She could not run.

She could not call for help. She was an infant completely dependent on the adults in that house to protect her. She trusted them the only way a baby can by having no other choice. There was no financial motive in this case. No insurance policy, no custody battle, no deep complicated reason that anyone could point to and say that is why it happened.

According to court records, it came down to a diaper change. a baby who would not lie still and a man who had no patience for it. Gabrielle Hansshaw never had a first birthday. She never took a first step. She was 5 months old. Now, let’s talk about Andrew Richard Lukeart. He was born in approximately 1972 or 1973 in the Jacksonville, Florida area.

He was not a public figure. He was not someone with a well-known name or a respected position in the community. He was an ordinary man living in other people’s homes in domestic settings with women who had young children. That last part matters because in 1994, 2 years before Gabrielle Hansshaw died, Luke Hart was living with a different woman.

That woman had an infant daughter named Jillian French. Jillian was 8 months old. At some point during that time, Jillian was brought to medical attention. What doctors found was not the result of an accident. Jillian had broken ribs. She had retinal hemorrhages. She had trauma to the head. These were the kinds of injuries that told a very clear story.

A story of severe repeated force applied to a baby’s body. Lukeart was arrested. He was charged. And he was convicted of felony child abuse in connection with Jillian’s injuries. The sentence he received included probation. Not prison, probation. That meant that by 1996, Andrew Lucart, a convicted child abuser, was walking free.

He had moved into a new home. He was in a new relationship, and he was once again living under the same roof as a young infant. Court records confirm he was still on probation for the Jillian French conviction when Gabrielle Hansshaw died. There is no record of Lucart having any biological children of his own. But there is a clear and documented pattern moving into homes with women who had babies and those babies suffering serious harm while in his care.

This was not a man who stumbled into one terrible moment. And yet the system that had already convicted him once did not stop him from being alone with another infant. By early 1996, Andrew Lucart was settled into the RU household in Jacksonville, Florida. He was living with Misty, her daughters Gabrielle and Ashley, and other family members under the same roof.

He was also on active probation. That probation was supposed to mean monitoring. It was supposed to mean oversight. But according to court records, there is no indication that probation officers ever flagged his living situation. No restrictions were placed on his access to the children in that home. No one stepped in.

Misty was the primary parent. But there were moments, regular moments, when Luke Hart was left alone with the children, including with Gabrielle. What happened to Jillian French in 1994 was not a one-time loss of control. Broken ribs, retinal hemorrhages, head trauma. That was a pattern, and that pattern had never truly been addressed.

Court records do not document any specific incidents inside the RU household before February 25th, 1996, but everything was already in place. a man with a documented history of violence toward infants, unsupervised access, and no meaningful restrictions standing between him and a 5-month-old baby. On the evening of February 25th, 1996, Misty Rue had no reason to believe that leaving her baby daughter in Andrew Lucart’s care for just a few minutes would be the last time she ever saw Gabrielle alive.

There were no accompllices in this case, no co-conspirators, no weapons sourced in advance. This was not a planned murder in the traditional sense. But what happened after Gabrielle died was not accidental either. After she died in that house, Lukeart did not call 911. He did not call Misty. He picked up Gabrielle’s body, walked out of the house, got in the car, and drove to a pond near Normandy Boulevard.

He threw her body into the water. Then he drove to a convenience store. from that convenience store. He called Misty and told her to call 911. His story: Gabrielle had been abducted by an unknown person. It was a lie built in real time, designed to point law enforcement in the wrong direction and buy himself time.

He then abandoned the car, engine still running, a block away. When officers found him nearby, he had no shirt, no shoes. Every single step of that coverup was deliberate. It was multi-step. And it worked for a while. For 18 hours, an entire city searched for a baby who was already dead because Andrew Lucart told them to.

If you are finding this story as important as I do, take 2 seconds right now and hit that like button. Subscribe if you have not already and turn on your notifications. There is a lot more to the story and you do not want to miss what comes next. February 25th, 1996. Jacksonville, Florida. The family had been out together during the day.

Nothing about it stood out. It looked like an ordinary day. When they got home, Misty took Ashley to her bedroom. Lucart stayed behind with 5-month-old Gabrielle. He went to get a diaper, a routine act, something done dozens of times a day in any home with a baby. But according to his own words on the witness stand, what happened next was not routine at all.

Lucart testified that Gabrielle would not lie flat while he tried to change her diaper. That was his reason. A 5-month-old baby who would not stay still. His response, in his own words from court records, was that he forcefully and repeatedly pushed her head and neck to the floor. He also testified that he used quite a bit of force.

The medical examiner told a story that matched those words. At least five separate blows to the head. Two of those blows caused skull fractures. These were not the injuries of one terrible second. They were the injuries of repeated forceful impact on an infant’s skull. But that was not the story Lucart first told police before the trial.

He told officers something different. He said he had accidentally dropped Gabrielle, then shook her and panicked when she stopped responding. He claimed he tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He also said he hid her head on the car door while carrying her out of the house. The medical examiner’s findings did not support that version.

After Gabrielle died, Lucart did not call for help. He carried her body out of the house, drove to a pond near Normandy Boulevard, and threw her into the water. He then abandoned the car, engine still running, a block away, and walked to a convenience store. Approximately 30 minutes after leaving the house, he called Misty and told her to call 911.

His story: Gabrielle had been kidnapped. Officers from Jacksonville and Klay County searched for 18 hours. When Lukeart was found near the abandoned car, no shirt, no shoes, he was taken in for questioning. After approximately 18 hours, he confessed. He led officers to the pond.

Gabrielle’s body was recovered from the water. But the story he told police that night was only the beginning of the lies. What he said on the witness stand years later would shock the courtroom. When officers found Andrew Lucart near that abandoned car, no shirt, no shoes, he did not confess. He did not break down. He did not ask about Gabrielle.

He was taken in for questioning. Court records show that Lucart made multiple statements to law enforcement during this period. Those statements shifted. They changed. And years later, his defense team would argue in appeals that those statements had not been made voluntarily, raising questions about Miranda rights and whether proper procedure had been followed.

The Florida Supreme Court reviewed those claims and found no error. Meanwhile, Misty Ru had no idea what had actually happened in her own home. She had called 911 because Lukeart told her to. She believed her baby had been taken by a stranger. She was waiting for news. The kind of news every parent prays for. That her daughter had been found safe. That news never came.

This was not a case built around money. There was no insurance policy, no financial motive of any kind. According to everything documented in court records, this came down to one thing. A man who hurt a baby and then spent 18 hours trying to make sure no one found out. When the truth finally came out, Jacksonville felt it.

A community that had mobilized to find a missing infant now had to process something far harder. That there had been no kidnapper, no stranger. The danger had been inside the home the entire time. Misty Rue had trusted Andrew Lucart with her daughter. Her father and uncle had shared a home with him and Gabrielle was gone.

For the first 18 hours, law enforcement was chasing a kidnapper who did not exist. Lucart’s false report had shaped the entire investigation from the start. Officers from Jacksonville and Klay County were searching for a stranger, a phantom, while Gabrielle’s body was already at the bottom of a pond near Normandy Boulevard.

When Lucard finally confessed and led officers to the water, everything changed. Investigators now had three different stories from the same man. First, a kidnapping, then an accidental drop and a panic. Then, at trial, a forceful repeated pushing of a baby’s head to the floor. Each version contradicted the last and each version was measured against the same medical findings.

Five blows to the head, two skull fractures. Court records show his defense later challenged whether his statements to law enforcement had been made voluntarily. The Florida Supreme Court reviewed that argument and found no error in the trial court’s decision to admit them. Prosecutors also pointed to the Jillian French conviction.

Broken ribs, retinal hemorrhages, head trauma. This was not a first offense. This was not an accident. By the time this case reached a jury, the evidence was overwhelming. But the legal fight was only just beginning. There was no dramatic forensic breakthrough in this case. No witness came forward with a confession.

No physical evidence cracked the case open. The breakthrough was Andrew Lucart himself. His confession to law enforcement, leading officers to the pond, admitting that Gabrielle had died inside the house, was the moment the case locked in. And then at trial, he went further. He testified that he had forcefully and repeatedly pushed her head and neck to the floor.

He said he used quite a bit of force. Those were his own words spoken in open court. The medical examiner’s testimony confirmed what those words meant. Five blows to the head, two skull fractures, injuries that no diaper change accident could explain. His prior conviction for the abuse of Jillian French removed any argument that this was an isolated incident.

This was a pattern documented, convicted, and repeated. Lucart was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in connection with Gabrielle Han Shaw’s death. He was facing those charges while still on probation from the Gileian French conviction. There were no co-conspirators to arrest, no accompllices to pursue, just one man.

His own words and the evidence that made those words impossible to walk back. In 1997, Andrew Richard Lucart stood trial in Duval County, Florida for first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. The prosecution built its case on four pillars. his shifting stories, his prior conviction for abusing Jillian French, his own trial testimony describing the force he used on Gabrielle, and the medical examiner’s findings, five blows, two skull fractures.

The defense challenged the voluntariness of his statements to law enforcement. They questioned the jury instructions. They argued there was not enough evidence of premeditation to support a first-degree murder conviction. The jury was not persuaded. Lukeart was convicted on both counts. At sentencing, the jury recommended death by a 9-to-3 vote.

Florida law at the time permitted nonunanimous death recommendations. The judge followed the jury’s recommendation and imposed the death penalty. His direct appeal was filed on March 12th, 1997. The Florida Supreme Court issued its initial opinion on June 22nd, 2000, but that opinion was later withdrawn.

Justice Peggy Quint was required to recuse herself after it emerged she had previously spoken with public defender Cadet Kaufman, who was handling the direct appeal. A revised opinion was issued on September 28th, 2000. The convictions and death sentence were affirmed. The aggravated child abuse count was sent back for reentencing only because the trial court had failed to properly complete a sentencing guideline score sheet.

Reharing was denied on January 23rd, 2001. The mandate was issued on February 26th, 2001. Postconviction appeals followed. Every argument was denied. Miranda violations, lack of premeditation, medication use during trial and challenges to Florida’s lethal injection protocols. Justice Sonia Sotomayor publicly described Florida’s record on lethal injection as deeply troubling, but the courts denied relief.

When Florida revised its jury recommendation standard to 8:4 in 2023, Lucart’s 9-3 recommendation met the threshold. His death sentence stood. Andrew Richard Lucart was sent to Florida’s death row in 1997. He stayed there for nearly 30 years. During that time, he challenged his conviction and sentence at every level available to him.

State Trial Court, the Florida Supreme Court, Federal District Court, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Supreme Court. Every appeal was denied. Every argument was rejected. On May 1st, 2026, Governor Ronda Santis signed Luke Hart’s death warrant. He signed it one day after the state of Florida executed James Hitchcock, a man convicted of the 1976 rape and murder of his 13-year-old stepnie Cynthia Driggers.

The warrant set the execution window from noon on June 2nd through noon on June 9th, 2026 at Florida State Prison near Stark. Prison warden Randall Pulk scheduled the execution for 6:00 in the evening on June 2nd. Florida’s lethal injection protocol uses three drugs, a sedative, a paralytic agent, and a drug that stops the heart.

Luke Hart was set to become the eighth person executed in Florida in 2026. The year before, Florida had executed a record 19 inmates, the highest number since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Of the 131 people executed in Florida over the last 50 years, nearly 20% of them had been put to death in the previous 14 months alone.

Anti-death penalty advocates filed a petition urging Governor Dantis and the clemency board to stop the execution. They argued that Florida had the option to sentence Lucart to life without parole instead. There were no co-conspirators in this case, no accompllices, no hired parties. Andrew Lukart acted alone and he faced the consequences alone.

Andrew Lucart’s attorneys made one final effort to stop the execution. They argued that medication prescribed for his kidney disease could create dangerous complications with Florida’s lethal injection protocol. They also challenged the speed of the process itself, saying the roughly 1-month window between the death warrant and the execution date did not give adequate time for legal review.

The courts were not persuaded. The appeals failed. Andrew Richard Lukeart declined a final meal. He asked for nothing special. Florida officials also confirmed that he had no visitors before the execution, although he did spend time with a spiritual adviser beforehand. On June 2nd, 2026, the execution moved forward at Florida State Prison near Stark.

When witnesses were brought into the viewing room and the curtain lifted at 6:00, Lukeart was already secured to the execution table. An IV line ran into his arm. At the foot of the gurnie, a priest remained seated, praying softly. The warden then asked whether he wished to make a final statement. Lukeart looked toward the witnesses. I’m sorry.

He followed that with a passage from scripture. Luke 23:34. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. The lethal injection process began. Witnesses reported that he appeared to lose consciousness within moments after the drugs were administered. Minutes later, the warden called out his name and shook him. There was no movement.

A medical official entered the chamber to examine him. At 6:19 p.m., Andrew Richard Lukeart was pronounced dead. He was 53 years old. The execution was Florida’s eighth of the year as the state continued an aggressive pace of capital punishment following 19 executions in 2025, the highest yearly total Florida had seen in decades.

Almost 30 years separated the crime from the execution. A 5-month-old child whose life ended in 1996. A false kidnapping story. a confession and decades later an execution chamber in Florida. What part of this case affected you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments. And if you follow deep dive true crime cases built around court records, timelines, and the details many reports leave out, subscribe now.

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