The sentencing of the Gilgo Beach serial killer June 17 in New York brings to mind the Daytona Beach area’s own links to serial killers, from Aileen Wuornos — made famous in the movie “Monster” — to Robert Hayes, a criminal justice student and cheerleader who just happened to be a serial killer.
Rex Heuermann, 62, the New York architect known as the Gilgo Beach serial killer, pleaded guilty to murdering seven women and admitted to killing another, according to a USAToday story. The women’s bodies were found near Gilgo Beach on Long Island. Heuermann was sentenced June 17 to three consecutive life terms without parole. He was also sentenced to four additional consecutive terms of 25 years to life in prison.
Daytona Beach serial killers
The Daytona Beach area has had its share of serial killers like Heuermann, who spent nearly 20 years targeting women on Long Island. Here’s what we know about local killers.
Aileen Wuornos: “Monster”
Aileen Wuornos is the most famous — or infamous — of serial killers with a link to the Daytona Beach area. Wuornos was drinking a beer at the Last Resort bar in Port Orange on Jan. 9, 1991, when detectives arrested her. She was the subject of the 2003 movie “Monster” and the bar was one of the filming locations. Charlize Theron starred as Wuornos. Wuornos was convicted in the 1992 of the murder of Richard Mallory, 51, in Daytona. Mallory was a resident of Clearwater. Wuornos admitted to six other slayings in Marion, Citrus, Pasco and Dixie counties. She contended that she killed her seven victims in self-defense. Wuornos was executed on Oct. 9, 2002.
Robert Hayes: A cheerleader and a serial killer
Robert T. Hayes is known as the “Daytona Beach serial killer.” Hayes, 44, shot three women to death in Daytona Beach two decades ago. The criminal justice major graduated from Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach where he was a cheerleader.
Hayes was convicted of killing the three women in Daytona Beach but while prosecutors sought the death penalty, the jury recommended a life sentence. Hayes is also accused of killing a woman in Palm Beach County. He has yet to go to trial in that case, but prosecutors there are seeking the death penalty. Hayes was in court in Daytona Beach this year trying to get his conviction and sentence overturned. But Circuit Judge Kathryn Weston told him the evidence against him was overwhelming.
Gerald Stano: Serial killer’s victim escaped from hotel room
Gerald Stano, who moved to the Daytona area as a young adult with his parents, was linked to 33 murders. He was arrested in 1980 after one of his victims, a Daytona Beach-area prostitute, escaped from a hotel room.
Stano had beaten and thrown acid on her.
He was convicted and sentenced to death for the slaying of 17-year-old Susan Bickrest, who had just moved to Daytona Beach from Ohio. Stano was executed in March 1998.
Gary Ray Bowles: The ‘I-95 Killer’
Gary Ray Bowles was known as the “I-95 Killer.” Bowles killed six men from Daytona Beach to Maryland. His first victim was, John Hardy Roberts, 59, in March 1994. Bowles killed Roberts in Roberts’ home on Vermont Avenue in Daytona by striking him in the head with a lamp.
He also choked Roberts and stuffed a towel down his throat. Bowles was captured in Jacksonville Beach after being profiled on “America’s Most Wanted.” Bowles was executed Aug. 22, 2019.
This story included information from a story by former News-Journal reporter Tony Holt.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach, like Gilgo Beach, has serial killer connections
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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By Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
