Chris's Crime Forum

A serial killer has murdered four women found dead starting in 2005. On January 2, 2008 the body of Stacey Gage was located in a wooded area at 1650 Hancock Boulevard. Her death was ruled a homicide and the murder was linked by police to the murders of three other women murdered in 2005 and 2006. A Florida Department of Law Enforecment profiler has been assigned to the investigation. Daytona Beach Police have opened a Serial Killer Hot Line for those with tips and information: 1-866-619-5734

This site is dedicated to presenting information about the murders and encouraging anyone with information to come forward. Visitors may navigate the site using the menu at the top of this page.

Chronology
•December 26, 2005: Body of Laquetta Gunther is found.


•January 14, 2006: The body of Julie Green is found.


•February 24, 2006: The body of Iwana Patton is found.


•March 10, 2006: Daytona Beach Police and State of Florida investigators announce the three women were likely the victims of a serial killer.


•April 21 2006: Police confirm the collection of DNA from several "persons of interest."


•April 22, 2006: Local police confirm that police officers were questioned in the slayings.


•June 10, 2006: Police arrest David Gibson Lindsay on an unrelated warrant.


•June 20, 2006: DNA evidence excludes David Gibson Lindsay as a suspect.


•December 10, 2007: Stacey Gage is last seen alive.


•January 2, 2008: The body of Stacey Gage is found.


•January 23, 2008: Authorities announce that the murder of Stacey Gage is connected to the previous three homicides.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A serial killer terrorized a South Carolina town. He killed five people in just one week and now Eyewitness News has learned he also committed crimes in Central Florida.

Police shot and killed serial killer Patrick Burris during a standoff Monday night. He committed his spree of murders in the small town of Gaffney, South Carolina, but Burris was also responsible for crimes in Volusia County in the 1980s. Now police want to know if he's responsible for any unsolved local crimes, as well.

Burris has a long criminal history. Eyewitness News found out it includes several crimes in Central Florida. Documents dating back to 1986 show Burris did time in the Volusia County jail for a string of armed burglaries in Edgewater and New Smyrna Beach.

Twenty-one years later, the same man died during a shootout with police in South Carolina. Detectives say Burris murdered five people in the tiny town of Gaffney in a killing spree that started June 27.

The bloodshed began just two months after he was released from prison. Now, a few hundred miles to the south, police wonder if the same suspect can be connected to a string of unsolved murders in Daytona Beach.

At Daytona Beach police headquarters, they have an office for what's called the cold case squad. Those detectives have been ordered to investigate Burris.

Daytona Beach Chief Mike Chitwood told Eyewitness News they'll see if they can match DNA evidence and they're also interested in ballistics evidence from the gun Burris used. While Chitwood admits the chances are very slim, detectives will check anyway.

Meanwhile, a South Carolina community wonders why such a violent man was freed from prison.

At least two other serial killers have been linked to Central Florida. Aileen Wuornos admitted to killing six men in and around Daytona Beach between 1989 and 1990. She was executed in 2002.

Gary Hilton is a person of interest in the murder of Michael Louis of Ormond Beach. Louis' dismembered body was found in the Tomoka River in 2007. Hilton is already in a Georgia prison for decapitating and dismembering a young woman there.