DNA links series of four murders
Prosecutors looking to persuade judge that one man was responsible for killings
A serial killer shot dead three prostitutes over two months, seemingly took a 10-year break from murder, and re-emerged to snuff out the life of a prostitute in South Florida, authorities say.
This is the accusation facing Robert Tyrone Hayes, a college-educated man who prosecutors say escaped detection until 2019. That’s when DNA and other evidence linked three slayings in Daytona Beach with one in Palm Beach County.
Now, prosecutors are
trying to persuade a judge to let them make the argument to a jury that the same perpetrator was responsible for all four killings, because the evidence is “inextricably intertwined.”
“These were not chance meetings between the defendant and local prostitutes, but planned encounters all ending in a similar fashion, with the murder of the prostitute and abandonment of her body in a remote location,” wrote Assistant State Attorney Andrew J. Urbanak in Volusia County.
Hayes will have two trials, one for the Daytona killings and one for the Palm Beach County murder. But it hasn’t been determined which will happen first or when.
Prosecutors in Volusia say it is critical to their case to show jurors how Hayes was finally caught because his DNA was found on a 2016 victim in Palm Beach County, more than a decade after the Daytona Beach killings.
Otherwise, they would have to seek convictions on the three Daytona killings without mentioning why Hayes came to be apprehended.
“Without presenting this evidence, a jury would be left to wonder why the case became active again in late 2016/early 2017 and perhaps question the significant involvement of the (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office) in the investigation,” Urbanak explained in November.
While making this argument to link the murders, officials have provided the clearest outline yet as to why they say they can prove Hayes is the undoubtedly the culprit despite whatever defenses he raises. They contend:
■ Evidence shows detectives recovered the same man’s DNA
— considered a genetic fingerprint — from a victim in 2005, Laquetta Gunther, and a victim in 2006, Iwana Patton in Daytona. But they had no idea who it could possibly be until a computer database showed that the same DNA had been collected from the victim in 2016, Rachel Bey in Palm Beach County.
■ Efforts to find the source of the DNA led law enforcement to identify Hayes as a suspect. This happened because of a lucky break: The DNA evidence from the murders was matched with DNA that an unidentified person — likely a relative of Hayes — just so happened to have been provided to a genetic genealogy company.
■ People provide DNA to these services to determine their ancestry, and law enforcement may have access to some of it. Thanks to this lead, detectives later managed to collect DNA from Hayes and then conclusively link him with those three victims.
■ Authorities have long known that the same gun, a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson, was used in the killings of both Patton and another victim in 2006, Julie Green. Detectives discovered that Hayes had bought that model gun and bullets from a gun shop in Daytona, right before Gunther was killed.
Four slayings linked
But it wasn’t until the DNA match that investigators could argue that Hayes was the one who fired at Patton, 35, and also Green, 34, and Gunther, 45. Bey’s death was caused by strangulation — investigators said that’s because Hayes likely threw away his gun long ago.
“It is necessary to present evidence regarding Bey’s murder because it establishes the entire context out of which the crimes arose and provides an intelligent account of the charged crimes,” Urbanak wrote.
And there are still more facts connecting all four slayings, authorities say:
■ All four victims were known prostitutes, women whose dead bodies were found in secluded areas almost completely nude, positioned face down.
■ All four victims were similar in height and weight and had narcotics or alcohol in their blood when they died.
■ All four victims were murdered at a time when Hayes lived in their midst. He was a student at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach from 2000 to 2006 and lived in Palm Beach County since late 2012.
“We have been able to take what we believe is a serial killer off the streets,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters after Hayes was arrested. “Had we not done this, we’re pretty sure he would have killed again.”
Claims of innocence
Yet Hayes is now putting his criminal justice degree to work, by recently firing off a series of jailhouse pleadings. These include arguments that some of his court-appointed lawyers should be fired for encouraging him to plead guilty in the death of Bey, 32, west of Jupiter, in exchange for possible leniency.
“How can I go into a trial for my life with … the Public Defender office leader quitting before the game begins?” Hayes wrote, describing himself as “an innocent man who will remain innocent until proven guilty, and my attorneys should have that same mentality.”
A hearing is set for Feb. 1, for Hayes to continue calling for the replacement of Public Defender Carey Haughwout. Her office declined to comment for this news article.
Also next month, Hayes is to be moved to Volusia County Jail, in advance of pretrial hearings about the first-degree murder charges there.
Hayes apparently does not have any qualms with defense attorney Francis Shea, court-appointed to fight for Hayes’ life concerning the Daytona Beach crimes that happened from December 2005 to February 2006.
Shea, of Jacksonville, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that he’s “had no difficulty with him at all,” and Hayes’ extensive writings about the Palm Beach County prosecution is “not having an effect on our cases up here.”
The lawyer said he couldn’t comment on his defense strategy, but noted how he’s been coordinating with Haughwout’s office. Hayes “has got a very good defense team down there, and they’re doing good work. He should be listening to his attorneys.”
Hayes, in a motion to dismiss the charge in Bey’s murder, admitted to having sex with the victim hours before her death and the discovery of her body at a construction site along Beeline Highway. That’s different from what he told a detective after his arrest, when he said he frequently paid prostitutes for sex but denied knowing or ever being with Bey.
“This sexual encounter does not implicate Mr. Hayes in Bey’s death,” he wrote, referring to himself in the third person. He explained that his earlier denial was because he doesn’t really know the prostitutes he’s been with on a personal level.
Hayes also pointed out that none of his DNA was found on Bey’s neck or face.
Hayes’ main claim about his innocence is that detectives have noted Bey was reportedly seen alive by a friend at 2 a.m. March 7, 2016, on a West Palm Beach street. Hayes claims cellphone records prove he was at his Riviera Beach home from 2:09 a.m. through the remainder of the day, making it impossible for him to have killed her and dumped her body miles away.
“This conclusion clears up any dispute of Mr. Hayes’ participation in this crime,” he wrote.
Targeting prostitutes
Palm Beach County prosecutors, who do not comment on pending cases, are not bound to respond to Hayes because his pleading will not be allowed by the court, as he has an attorney.
But the Volusia County prosecutor says the murder of Bey shows Hayes’ motive for all the killings, “a desire to murder women engaged in prostitution.” Authorities have said they believe there could be other victims, but they have not found others so far.
Assistant State Attorney Urbanak said he expects Hayes’ defense will argue the evidence is just a bunch of coincidences: his DNA on Gunther and Patton happened because of sexual encounters; and it just so happened that Hayes bought the same type of gun used in the Patton and Green homicides.
But when you add in the evidence of the Bey killing, that “will rebut the anticipated defense that the defendant did engage sexually with Patton and Gunther but did not kill them,” Urbanak argued.
Former Daytona Beach Police Chief Craig Capri said it’s critical for Hayes’ prosecutors to present an airtight case for the jury, to obtain convictions and death sentences.
“Justice for these victims and closure for these families is the most important thing,” he said, after a Volusia grand jury indicted Hayes. “I’m just glad we got a dangerous killer off the streets.”