By Seamus McGraw

March 16, 2006

advertisement

DAYTONA BEACH (Crime Library) —  Police in Daytona Beach have more on their minds this year than usual as they brace for the annual onslaught of sun and fun loving college kids headed to this beachfront Mecca for spring break.

They're looking for a serial killer, who in just the past three months, authorities say, has shot and killed three women, all of them women who lived what authorities described as "high-risk" lives in the shadows.

Iwana Patton

Police first realized that they might have a serial killer on their hands late last month when an anonymous tipster telephoned them and reported that he had spotted a woman's body in a wooded area off Williamson Boulevard. The slain woman was later identified as Iwana Patton, and authorities said she had been shot to death.

Almost immediately, investigators linked the slaying to the death of three other women, who like Patton lived what authorities described as "high risk lifestyles."

LaQuetta Mae Gunter

They included LaQuetta Mae Gunter, 45, who was found shot to death in alley the day after Christmas, and Julie Ann Green, 34, whose body was found two weeks later along a dirt road not far from LPGA Boulevard. Investigators have released few details about the nature of the slayings or about the crime scene.

Julie Ann Green

But there were enough similarities among the three slayings that police enlisted the aid of a profiler from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. That profiler concluded that the same man killed all three women. The profiler also surmised that the women had in all likelihood gone with the killer voluntarily, never suspecting that he was a serial killer who was, as the Orlando Sentinel put it, "using his victims as substitutes for a 'close acquaintance' who is causing him stress."

At first, authorities wondered whether the anonymous tipster might help lead them to the killer. But after finally tracking him down on Wednesday, authorities said that while he was a witness, he had not been able to provide the kind of details that would bring them closer to an arrest.

The investigation is continuing, and in the meantime, authorities are warning spring breakers to be cautious.

For More Daily Crime News