Daytona Beach killer

The Daytona Beach killer is an American serial killer responsible for the murders of four women in the Daytona Beach, Florida area from December 2005 to December 2007. The involvement of a serial killer was feared after the discovery of the first three victims.[1][2] On September 16, 2019, Daytona Beach Police announced that 37-year-old Robert Hayes, previously arrested for first-degree murder in 2016, had been linked to three of the four killings using DNA evidence.[3]

Daytona Beach Serial Killer
Daytona Beach, Florida location of the killings
Born
Robert Hayes
Other namesThe Daytona Beach Serial Killer
Details
Victims4-7
Span of crimes
December, 2005–March, 2016
CountryUnited States
State(s)Daytona Beach, Florida

Victims

The first known victim was 45-year-old Laquetta Gunther, who was found in an alley on December 26, 2005. She had been shot in the back of the head. DNA was recovered from the scene.[2] The second victim was 34-year-old Julie Green, found January 14, 2006. She had also been shot in the back of the head. No DNA was recovered, but tire tracks were found. The tires were for a 2003 Taurus or Sable and in fact the exact tires were later found.[2]

Just over a month later, on February 24, 2006 police found the body of Iwana Patton, 35, on a dirt road. She had been shot, but not in the back of the head, and possibly had struggled with her killer. DNA was recovered, along with a shell casing that allowed police to identify the make and model of pistol used. (.40-caliber Smith & Wesson Sigma Series VE.)[2] Ballistics from recovered bullets and recovered DNA matched.[1][4]

Authorities received an anonymous telephone call describing the location of Patton's body, but the caller was eventually identified and questioned, and is not a suspect in the killings. All three women are believed to have worked as sex workers in the Daytona Beach area.[1] Police believe the victims voluntarily accompanied their killer, possibly in a vehicle, and were subsequently murdered and dumped in the same area of Daytona Beach. The killer did not attempt to conceal the bodies.

The remains of Stacey Charlene Gage, 30, were found on January 2, 2008. She had been shot in the head.[2] Police believe she was killed December 11, 2007. Police have further stated that the circumstances surrounding the case are eerily similar to the three previous unsolved homicides. Unlike the first three victims, Gage did not have a criminal record involving prostitution. However, she did have a history of drug problems. The van Gage was driving the night she disappeared was later recovered.[4]

A woman named Rachel Elizabeth Bey was found strangled and sexually battered on the side of a road in 2016. She has been linked to the murders.[5]

Other possible victims

In October 2006, the body of sex worker Lisa Marie French, 39, of Casselberry was found in Sanford, Florida behind a warehouse. Police first reported that French had been strangled to death and was a possible victim of the Daytona Beach Killer, but autopsy results were inconclusive in regards to the cause of her death; however, serial rapist Jerry Lee Williams Jr., whom authorities accused of attacking six women and killing two, pleaded guilty to raping and suffocating French and was sentenced to life in prison. [6]

The Orlando Sentinel reported that, "According to the FBI, the four killings are among 28 in Florida that are unsolved and connected to serial killings that the bureau suspects were committed by long-haul truckers. Those include 19 deaths along the Interstate 4 corridor between Tampa and Daytona Beach...", but it also noted that "all but one local law-enforcement agency denies any serial-killer cases on its books."[7] The Sentinel identified as two possible further victims (1) Regan Kendall, whose dismembered body was found near Osceola Parkway and Boggy Creek Road in Osceola County in July, and (2) Kelly Lanthorne, who was found near South Orange Blossom Trail in Orange County.[7]

Attempts to solve

The Daytona Beach PD used field DNA kits to take DNA samples from motorists fitting the profile of a white male with a girlfriend. The samples were taken to a lab to match with genetic material taken from the crime scenes.[8]

Robert Hayes

On September 15, 2019, Palm Beach County officials arrested Robert Hayes, 37, at his West Palm Beach home for the March 7, 2016, killing of Rachel Bey. DNA found on Bey matched DNA recovered from Gunther and Green, two of the Daytona Beach Killer's victims and ballistics tests connect Hayes to the killing of Patton.[9] Lori Napolitano, chief of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's forensics department, reported that DNA collected from Daytona Beach Killer victims was run through a genetic database used by people trying to find long-lost relatives and a link to Hayes was established. Hayes was put under surveillance and police collected a used cigarette butt surreptitiously that linked him to the killings. Additional testing after his arrest confirmed the link.[10]

Hayes is currently being charged with four counts of first-degree murder for the killings of Laquetta Gunther in 2005, Julie Green and Iwana Patton both in 2006 and the 2016 murder of Rachel Bey. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Hayes.[11][12]

See also

References
  1. Michels, Scott (9 January 2008). "Is Serial Killer Stalking Daytona's Women?". Cuomo on the Case. ABC News. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  2. "Daytona Beach Serial Killer". America's Most Wanted. 19 March 2011. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  3. Allbrittin, Deanna (16 September 2019). "Police: Man charged with murder in Palm Beach linked to Daytona Beach serial killer case". WFTV9. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  4. Waddell, Lynn (10 January 2008). "A Serial Killer On the Loose?". Newsweek via The Daily Beast. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  5. Weber, Chuck (2019-11-21). "West Palm man now charged as serial killer; Local genealogy site helped police". WPEC. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  6. Killer rapist from Sanford gets life term
  7. Pacheco, Walter (12 January 2010). "Are 28 deaths the work of serial killers?". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  8. Police Swabbing Mouths During Traffic Stops In Serial Killer Hunt
  9. Balogna, Patricio (September 16, 2019). "Daytona serial killings suspect studied criminal justice". Daytona Beach News-Journal Online. GateHouse Media. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  10. Knowles, Hannah (September 16, 2019). "He's suspected in four women's deaths — and 'would have killed again,' sheriff says". Washington Post. Washington Post. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  11. Mccray, Sarah Wilson, Michael Springer, Q. "Suspected Daytona Beach serial killer indicted on 3 slayings; state to seek death penalty". WFTV. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  12. Cutway, Adrienne (2019-11-21). "Suspected serial killer indicted in deaths of Daytona Beach women". WKMG. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
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