Robert Hayes was convicted by jurors after a lengthy eight-hour trial. He was found to be DNA linked to three of the victims in a second murder in Palm Beach County. Hayes had been a chef in the county until his arrest in 2019.
At the start of the trial, detectives testified that they placed Hayes under surveillance, and secretly took a beer can, and a cigarette, butt he discarded. Prosecutors claim that the DNA taken from these items matches the killer’s, CBS Miami reported.
The clerk read Tuesday’s verdict to Hayes, 39. Hayes did not react, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. During the sentencing phase, which begins next week, the prosecution will seek the death penalty.
Hayes graduated from Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach in 2006. In his senior year, the victims were found murdered in the city.
Laquetta Gunther (45), was found dead in a gap between an automobile parts store and an empty utility building. It was discovered around Christmas 2005. Julie Green, 34, was discovered Jan. 14, 2006 on a dirt road near a construction site. Iwana Patton, 35, was found dead along a dirt road on February 24, 2006. They were all nude, face down, and shot in the head.
Patton was a college grad who moved to Daytona Beach where she worked two jobs. Her niece Annesah Farris, , told CBS affiliate WKMG that Hayes was arrested in 2019.
She said, “Looking at her friends and acquaintances, she would never have associated with him,”
Many sex workers in Daytona Beach were panicked by the deaths. Some of them worked with investigators to learn vehicle names and license plates.
Hayes is also accused in the murder of Rachel Bey (32), a prostitute, who was strangled to death and had her jaw and teeth fractured, on March 7, 2016, in Palm Beach County.
Three more years passed before investigators discovered that Hayes’ DNA was part of all four murders. They were able to arrest him at his West Palm Beach home.
The newspaper reported that authorities investigating the Daytona Beach murders had questioned Hayes twice before he was released. They also looked into all those in the area who bought a.40 caliber handgun, similar to the one used against the victims. The gun was purchased by Hayes in 2005, just before the death of the first victim.
