Robert Hayes (serial killer)

Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty for Hayes. 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. Hayes is now awaiting to be separately tried for the murder of Rachel Bey.

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. Investigators had identified Hayes after identifying his family members through genetic genealogy, a tactic that has been used to solve numerous cold cases, most infamously the Golden State Killer. 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.

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 was transferred to Volusia County Jail, where he was charged with three additional counts of first-degree murder.

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. DNA evidence of the perpetrator was found during the investigation.

In December 2016, detectives involved with the investigation into Bey's murder were notified that the DNA found on Bey's body had matched to DNA samples taken from the original Daytona killings.

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."

Between December 2010 and April 2011, the bodies of ten women were found buried under numerous beaches along Long Island, New York. All the women that were found had engaged in prostitution, similar to the killings in Daytona Beach. 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.

The remains of Stacey Charlene Gage, 30, were found on January 2, 2008. She had been shot in the head. Police believe she was killed December 11, 2007, when she left her house which she shared with her grandmother to buy a bag of ice. 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 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. Investigators were not able to close in on a suspect in time. In December 2007, the murder of a woman in the same area caused a re-investigation to be brought forward, but again, Hayes remained elusive. 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.

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). Ballistics from recovered bullets and recovered DNA matched.

The first known victim was 45-year-old Laquetta Mae 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. Laquetta had gone missing two days prior on Christmas Eve, when she was making dinner plans with her friend Stacey Dittmer. When the time came, Laquetta never showed up. She was known to have worked as a prostitute. The second victim was 34-year-old Julie Green, found January 14, 2006. She was also known to have worked as a prostitute. 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.

Nicknamed "Squeaky" by friends and family, Hayes was described as someone who was always there for people, friendly with neighbors, outspoken, and recited poetry in Miami. He was known by friends to have an active sex life, attending sex parties, suspected of inviting prostitutes over, and at point he invited a family member to a sex party. He was also described as someone with a good sense of humor and a fun, positive attitude. Hayes had a girlfriend named 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 graduated with a degree in 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.

Robert Tyrone Hayes (born March 12, 1982) is an American serial killer who has been 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.

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.