Gerald Stano

Stano was found guilty of 9 murders. He received eight life sentences and one death sentence, the latter of which was carried out by electric chair on March 23, 1998 in Florida State Prison. For his final meal, Stano requested Delmonico steak, a baked potato with sour cream and bacon bits, salad with blue cheese dressing, lima beans, a half gallon of mint chocolate-chip ice cream, and 2 litres of Pepsi. Stano's final statement proclaimed innocence and directed blame for his false confessions at the lead investigator, Paul Crow. He stated: “I am innocent. I am frightened. I was threatened and I was held month after month without any real legal representation. I confessed to crimes I did not commit.”

By his 29th birthday, he was in prison for allegedly murdering 41 women. His victims were killed by different methods, such as gunshots, strangulation, and stabbing, but none of them were ever raped. He was housed with fellow serial killer Ted Bundy until Bundy's execution in 1989.

He also confessed to killing a young woman in 1978 or 1979, claiming she was a prostitute. Her remains were located in Daytona Beach in 1980. The confession was confirmed by his memory of her clothing.

Officially, Stano admitted that he began killing in the early 1970s, when he was in his 20s but also claimed to have begun killing in the late 1960s, at the age of 18. Several girls had gone missing in Stano's area of residence at that time, but since insufficient physical evidence was found when these claims were investigated almost 20 years later, Stano was never charged. He was most active in Florida and New Jersey. He was arrested after a woman named Donna Hensley had come to the police station bleeding and had accused Stano of having "sliced" her.

Stano admitted his first murder was committed in New Jersey in 1969. He also confessed to having killed six other women in Pennsylvania. After his moving to Florida he may have murdered up to 30 or more women. One gruesome killing was the 1973 stabbing of 17-year-old hitchhiker Cathy Lee Scharf.

Gerald Eugene Stano (September 12, 1951 – March 23, 1998) was an American convicted serial killer. He killed at least 22 women, and confessed to killing 41.