March 12, 1982 - Daytona Beach killer
Operating in the Daytona Beach area over a span of roughly a decade, Hayes evaded identification for years while investigators struggled to close in on a suspect — a gap that, by DNA evidence, proved fatal for at least one more victim in 2016. His case illustrates how forensic timelines can stretch across years and jurisdictions before accountability arrives.
From Wikipedia
Robert Tyrone Hayes (born March 12, 1982) is an American serial killer who was 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.
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.
On September 15, 2019, authorities charged Hayes with one count of first-degree murder based upon DNA tests.
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