Daytona Beach killer

Robert Tyrone Hayes (born March 12, 1982) is an American serial killer who was convicted of three murders in the Daytona Beach, Florida, area between December 2005 and February 2006. DNA tests have also linked him to a fourth murder committed in March 2016. In addition, he remains the prime suspect in the murder of another woman in December 2007.

The first three murders that were committed in Daytona Beach, Florida, garnered high media attention, and before Hayes' identification, the perpetrator was nicknamed The Daytona Beach Killer. In December 2016, DNA tests on a woman found murdered in Palm Beach County in March 2016 matched DNA found on the original three murdered women.

On September 15, 2019, authorities charged Hayes with one count of first-degree murder based upon DNA tests. On September 16, he was charged on three additional counts of first-degree murder. Additional testing after his arrest confirmed the link. In February 2022, Hayes was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder and the following month was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Early life Robert Tyrone Hayes was born on March 12, 1982, in West Palm Beach, Florida, the youngest of four children. Growing up, Hayes' was raised primarily by his mother, as his father had been murdered shortly after his birth, and according to later reports Hayes received an uncertain amount of abuse as a child. When he was young, presumably a teenager, he was molested by a family member of a similar age. He was described as chubby in his adolescence, resulting in Hayes often being bullied. Hayes had a girlfriend in the 2000s, whom he had a child with.

Between 2000 and 2006, Hayes attended Bethune–Cookman College, now Bethune–Cookman University, studying criminal justice. He was known to be helpful to friends and acquaintances. Friends also explained Hayes had an interest in cooking, and attempted to start his own cooking business in Charlotte, North Carolina. She had been shot in the back of the head. DNA was recovered from the scene. It was believed the victims were the result of the killer letting out their frustration on them. The public had their own theories, believing the killer was involved in a certain line of work that was allowing them to not become suspected; some believed the killer was a truck driver, while others thought he was of military background or possibly a police officer. 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 in the parking lot of an apartment complex. The police 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.

Palm Beach Murder of Rachel Bey On March 7, 2016, the naked body of 32-year-old Rachel Elizabeth Bey was found dead alongside a highway near Jupiter, Florida. An autopsy was performed on her body, which showed she had been strangled and badly beaten, and other evidence showed that Bey had fought her attacker.

The Orlando Sentinel reported in 2010 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." This prompted theories to suggest both sets of murders could have been perpetrated by the same person, and some people also hinted a possible connection to the Eastbound Strangler, an Atlantic City killer that murdered four women in 2006. If it were to be true, then that meant an unidentified serial killer was responsible for up to 18 murders across the East Coast of the United States between 1996 and 2010.

Investigators have publicly stated however there was no evidence to suggest one person was behind all the murders, and other evidence that has been collected over the years has since ruled out this theory.

Identification and arrest 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.

On September 15, 2019, Palm Beach County officials arrested Hayes, 37, at his West Palm Beach home for the killing of Rachel Bey. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder, and was ordered to be held without bail. 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. Hayes's trial began February 11, 2022. On February 22, 2022, Hayes was found guilty in the murders of Laquetta Gunther, Julie Green and Iwana Patton. On March 2, 2022, Hayes was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole.