Ex-cheerleader guilty in Florida prostitute deaths

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A former legal justice main and school cheerleader was convicted within the killings of three Florida prostitutes greater than 15 years in the past.

Jurors deliberated greater than eight hours earlier than returning the responsible verdict towards Robert Hayes, who was linked by DNA proof to the three victims after one other killing in Palm Seashore County, the place he had been working as a chef till his arrest in 2019.

Hayes, 39, confirmed no response because the clerk learn the jury’s verdict Tuesday night, The Daytona Seashore Information-Journal reported. Prosecutors will search the dying penalty throughout the sentencing part starting subsequent week.

Hayes graduated in 2006 from Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Seashore. The victims have been discovered slain within the metropolis his senior yr.

The physique of Laquetta Gunther, 45, was present in a spot between an auto components retailer and a principally empty utility constructing round Christmas 2005. Julie Inexperienced, 34, was discovered Jan. 14, 2006, on a dust street at a development web site. The physique of 35-year-old Iwana Patton was discovered that Feb. 24 alongside a dust street. All have been nude, mendacity face down, shot within the head.

The deaths brought about widespread panic amongst intercourse employees within the Daytona Seashore space, leading to a few of them working with investigators to memorize license plates and car descriptions.

Hayes is also accused within the killing of Rachel Bey, 32, a prostitute whose physique was discovered, strangled and together with her jaw and enamel damaged, on March 7, 2016, close to Jupiter in Palm Seashore County. It took three extra years earlier than investigators mentioned DNA recovered from all 4 killings led them to arrest Hayes at his residence in West Palm Seashore.

Years earlier, authorities investigating the Daytona Seashore killings questioned Hayes twice, however did not arrest him, as they seemed into everybody within the space who had lately bought a .40-caliber handgun much like the one used towards the primary three victims, the newspaper reported. Police mentioned he purchased the gun in 2005, shortly earlier than the primary sufferer was killed.