Daytona Beach killer

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Daytona Beach Serial Killer
Daytona Beach, Florida location of the killings
Background information
Birth name:	Unknown assailant
Killings
Number of victims:	4
Span of killings:	December, 2005 through December, 2007
Country:	USA
State(s):	Daytona Beach, Florida
Date apprehended:	never caught

Police in Daytona Beach, Florida have connected four unsolved homicides that occurred in December 2005, January 2006, February 2006 and December 2007 to a single offender, and are investigating the possibility that a fifth unsolved death that occurred in October 2006 was the work of the same offender.

In January 2008, Daytona Beach Police identified the remains of a 30 year old woman found dead in the woods and stated that her murder resembles that of the previous three victims and that they are looking for a serial killer who preys on people who live risky lifestyles.

1 Victims
2 Possible Connection
3 Attempts to Solve
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] Victims

The first known victim of the offender was 45 year old Laquetta Gunther. Gunther was found in an alley on December 26th, 2005. She had been shot in the head. The offender's second victim was 34 year-old Julie Green, found January 14th. She had also been shot to death. Just over a month later, on February 24th, police found the body of Iwana Patton, 35, on a dirt road. 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 prostitutes in the Daytona Beach area. Police believe the victims voluntarily accompanied the offender, possibly in a vehicle, and were subsequently murdered and dumped in the same area of Daytona Beach. The offender did not attempt to conceal the bodies.

The remains of Stacey Charlene Gage, 30, were found on January 3, 2008. Police will not say how she died, but that they 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.

[edit] Possible Connection

In October of 2006, the body of known prostitute Lisa Marie French, 39, was found in Sanford, Florida. Police first reported that French had been strangled to death, but autopsy results were inconclusive in regards to the cause of her death. Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood has since disclosed that French was probably not the victim of foul play.[1]

[edit] Attempts to Solve

The Daytona Beach PD are taking DNA samples from motorists fitting what the profiler says is a White male with a girlfriend with field DNA kits that will be taken to a lab to match with genetic material taken from the crime scenes.^[1]