This killer is one of us. It's our next door neighbor. It's somebody that we go to church with. It's somebody who is a respectable, decent human being on the outside. >> March 2016, Rachel Bay is killed in Palm Beach County. Investigators recover DNA and eventually it leads them to one man. >> We have your profile. Robert Tyrone Hayes. You say you've never met Rachel Bay? You say you've never had an encounter with Rachel Bay? >> I don't know this woman so I >> We have your DNA inside of her. >> He says he's never met her. Detectives [music] say his DNA proves otherwise. And this isn't the first time they've sat across from Robert Hayes. To understand why we have to go back to December 2005. >> [music] [music] >> It was around 1:00 a.m. on Christmas Day in 2005 when a friend of 45-year-old Daytona Beach resident LaQuetta May Gunther knew something was terribly wrong. LaQuetta had failed to show up to help prepare Christmas dinner as planned. Her body was found the next day in a narrow [clears throat] alleyway off Ridgewood Avenue. Less than a month later, Julie Green, reportedly a friend of LaQuetta's, told her boyfriend she was stepping outside to call her father from a payphone. Like LaQuetta, Julie was found dead shortly after. This time, investigators recovered a .40 caliber shell casing. In the early morning hours of February 24th, police were called to a wooded area near Williamson Boulevard and Mason Avenue. Firefighters had found a third body about 50 yards off a dirt road. It was Iwana Patton. She was a college graduate who worked at an assisted living facility nearby. Iwana had finished a 24-hour shift at 8:00 p.m. the night before. A coworker watched her leave through the back door. Officers recovered another .40 caliber casing at the scene. Three women had now been brutally murdered in just 2 months in Daytona Beach, and investigators were beginning to see a clear pattern. >> 2005, 2006, we had uh three killings. The one in 2005, uh LaQuetta Gunther was uh murdered. Uh and had a gunshot wound to the head. In 14, uh in 2006, Julie Green was also murdered in a similar fashion. Gunshot wound to the head. Also in 2006, Iwana Patterson was also murdered the same uh mode modus. So, when you looked at this, we knew we had a situation here where it was probably the same person committing these crimes, we had a serial killer. >> Initially, detectives began examining firearm purchase records for people who had recently bought .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistols of the type believed to have been used in the killings. [music] One of the people investigators questioned was 23-year-old Robert Tyrone Hayes. Hayes was a student at Bethune-Cookman, where he majored in criminal justice. He had lived in Daytona Beach during the period those murders occurred in the same general area where the victims had last been seen. During an interview in March 2006, Hayes claimed that he had gifted the .40 caliber firearm to his mother who lived in West Palm Beach. Without any physical or forensic evidence connecting Hayes to the murders, he was free to go. 13 years later, detectives in Palm Beach County will ask Hayes where he's lived. He still won't know why he's in that room. >> You pretty much lived here consistently throughout your life or is it pretty much did you come and go other places, other cities or whatnot? >> I went to college in Daytona. >> What year did you go to college in Daytona? >> Um 2000 to 2006. >> 2000 to 2006? And you were living in Daytona at the time? >> Yeah, I stayed on campus for the majority of that time and then the last 2 years I stayed off campus right around the corner from the campus. >> Culinary program? >> No. I was a criminal justice >> Simple answers and accurate ones. But to anyone who knows this case, they land [music] differently. He confirmed he lived in Daytona Beach 2000 to 2006, the same city [music] and the same years as the three murders. For nearly 2 years, there were no additional killings publicly linked to the case until January 2nd, 2008 when a female body was found at an abandoned church in Daytona Beach. The woman was identified as 30-year-old Stacy Gage who had been missing since early December. With another woman now found dead, concern was growing across Daytona Beach. Police Chief Mike Chitwood stepped forward to address those fears. >> This killer is one of us. It's our next-door neighbor. It's somebody that we go to church with. It's It's somebody who is a respectable, decent human being on the outside. >> Chilling words from Police Chief Mike Chitwood because they say the man who murdered three women in 2005 and 2006 and likely killed 30-year-old Stacy Gage, her body found two weeks ago, has a dark inside with a hatred of women. He dehumanizes them, the chief says. Someone out there knows him, someone in danger. >> If you're involved in a relationship with this guy, you have the potential, a high risk, to end your life is going to end like these women's life this life's end. >> Investigators never established a connection between Gage's death and the three Daytona murders. Subsequently, the investigation into the three murders went cold. For nearly a decade, those three killings remained unsolved. No arrests were made and no clear answers emerged. Then, on the morning of March 7th, 2016, a road construction worker made a discovery that changed the case's trajectory. A woman was found dead along the freshly graded shoulder of the Beeline Highway, >> [music] >> about a mile northwest of Indiantown Road in Jupiter, Florida. There were drag marks running from the edge of the pavement across the dirt to where her body had been left. An autopsy would eventually identify the woman as 32-year-old Rachel Elizabeth Bay. In a later court hearing, lead detective Robert Drake described his observations. >> You actually went to the crime scene after Ms. Bay was located? >> I did. >> Can you describe [clears throat] any observations you made of her body when you saw her? >> Yes. Um she was Eventually, when uh she was moved by uh the medical examiner, I saw obvious severe injuries to her face. Um it appeared that several teeth had been broken. And um based on my training and experience, it looked like she had fractures of her facial bones. Um there were broken fingernails on her hands and also there were uh injuries to her arms and uh on her hands that were consistent with defensive wounds. >> The cause of death was strangulation. But investigators also recovered evidence that would prove far more significant than anything visible at the scene. During Bay's autopsy, biological samples were collected as part of a forensic examination. Laboratory testing produced a complete [music] male DNA profile. Investigators now had a biological profile that could potentially connect the person to the crime. What they didn't have was a name. Nine months after Rachel Bay's body was found, forensic evidence from her case produced a critical lead. The male DNA profile matched evidence from two of the [music] three unsolved Daytona murders. For the first time, investigators knew the same unidentified male was connected to all four cases. Genetic genealogy led investigators to a woman related to the unknown [music] DNA source. Further research showed the source was her half-brother. She had three half-brothers and one of them was Robert Hayes, the same Robert Hayes investigators had questioned years earlier. In September 2019, >> [music] >> detectives will put Rachel Bay's photo in front of him. Listen to what he says he knows. >> Can I ask you a question, Mr. Hayes? This female here, okay? Her name is Rachel Bay. Are you familiar with this female? >> No, sir. >> Rachel Bay, have you ever seen her, met her before in your life? >> No, sir. Is this all posters on Dixon? >> Pardon? >> The posters that were on Dixon. >> What happened to her? >> I I idea. >> He says the only place he's seen her face is on a poster along Dixie Highway. Investigators are about to test that. Hayes had lived in the same general area as the Daytona victims when those murders occurred. By 2016, he was living in Palm Beach County. The same county where Rachel Bey had last been seen. But the genealogy gave investigators a lead, not proof. They needed Hayes' DNA. In September 2019, while under surveillance at a bus stop, Hayes smoked a cigarette and discarded it. Investigators recovered it and sent it for testing. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined the DNA profile was more than 700 billion times more likely to have come from Hayes and an unrelated individual than from two unrelated individuals. At last, [music] nearly 14 years after Laquitta Gunther's body was found, and with the DNA results in hand, investigators had probable cause to seek an arrest warrant for first-degree murder. On September 15th, 2019, police arrested Robert Hayes at his apartment without incident. By 3:50 that afternoon, he was sitting across from detectives, still asking why they had brought him in. >> Mr. Hayes? >> Yes, sir. >> James Evans. >> Good morning, sir. Why am I here, sir? >> Sure. Do me a favor, just have a seat right there. >> Yes, sir. >> I'm William Fraser. >> Yes, sir. >> This is William Fraser. He's with the Palm Beach County State's Attorney's Office. My name is James Evans. I work for the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Homicide Division. >> Yes, sir. >> Just by your body language and by the things that you've said to me thus far, I'm sure you're concerned about what's going on and you may have a lot of questions about why you're here, what's going on. Am I correct thus far? >> Okay, first and foremost, I just want to let you know that we've both been doing this for an extremely long time. And we're all about honesty and being up front. >> Yes, sir. >> By no means are we intending to run any games on you, any deception, any trickery, any buffoonery, or anything like that. Okay, we're just going to come out and let you know exactly what's going on and why you're here. Do you understand? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay, before we get into anything because you're in cut because you are in custody or you are detained and your liberty, so to speak, is is restricted, we have to ensure that you understand your constitutional rights. Do you understand that? >> Yes, sir. >> I'm required to warn you before you make any statement that you have the following constitutional rights. You have the right to remain silent. Do you understand everything that I've read to you? >> Yes. >> Okay. Now, I I noticed that you're extremely emotional right now. I noticed you're crying. You know, you're very reserved. >> They just pulled me out of my house with my daughter, man. I don't know what the [ __ ] going on, bro. >> Okay. Well, myself and like I said, we're straight up and first and foremost, we have a a couple of questions for you. Now, you know, before we speak to anybody, we obviously do background investigations on them. I'm sure you're aware of that. Correct? >> I guess. >> Were you born and raised in Palm Beach County, sir? >> Yes, sir. >> Um how long have you Have you pretty much lived here consistently throughout your life, or is it pretty much that you come and go other places, other cities, or whatnot? >> I went to college in Daytona. Uh I lived in Charlotte and Atlanta, and that's it, and I came back here. >> When did you When did you go What did you college did you go to? >> Bethune-Cookman. >> You play football or basketball? >> I was in the band. >> Pardon? >> I was in the band. >> Oh, you were in the band. What year did you go to college in Daytona? >> Um 2000 to 2006. >> 2000 to 2006? Let me ask you a question, Mr. um Hayes. >> Yes, sir. >> This female here, okay? Her name is Rachel Bey. Are you familiar with this female? >> No, sir. >> Rachel Bey, have you ever seen her, met her before in your life? >> No, sir. I just saw posters on Dixon. >> Posters? >> The posters that were on Dixon. >> What happened to her? >> I have no idea. >> You've never had any communication, encounter, or any type of interaction with her in your life? >> Not to my knowledge. Not to Not to my knowledge. >> When you say not to your knowledge, you know that's a somewhat ambiguous statement. What exactly do you mean when you say not to my knowledge? >> I don't know her, sir. >> You don't know her? >> No, sir. >> You said you've been with your current um you with your fiance since 2014? >> Yes, sir. >> So, you don't know her, so I'm assuming you saying you don't know her, that means you've never had any type of romantic relationship with her at all. >> No, sir. I don't know her, sir. >> Have you ever had sex with her? >> I don't know her. >> Okay. Respectfully to you, sir, you didn't answer his question. Did you have ever sex with her? >> I don't know her, so I can't tell you if I had sex with her. I don't know her. I don't know who this woman is. >> You've never seen her before in your life? >> No. >> I think Let me see What about this? I have a couple more pictures of her. >> No. I don't know that person. >> The posters that you saw of her on Dixie Highway, did you ever [music] stop to take a look at those posters, to read them? >> No. >> The type of poster that you saw of her, have you ever seen that type of poster before with another image on there, say for somebody else? >> Yeah. >> And what what circumstances surrounded that poster? >> Uh either they were missing or something they were they were killed or something happened to them. >> Correct. This female here, her name is Rachel Bate. And you're 100% certain that you've never met her or had any encounter with her before? >> I don't know her, sir. >> At all? Well, Rachel Bate was killed on March 7th of 2016. >> At this point, Hayes has given detectives a simple answer. He doesn't know Rachel Bate. But detectives haven't shown all their cards. Now, they're about to see if his story holds up. >> that you've never met her or had any encounter with her before? >> I don't know her, sir. >> At all? Well, Rachel Bate was killed on March 7th 2016. She was killed on March 7th of 2016. Do you know what Beeline Highway is? >> Yes. >> Have you ever been on Beeline Highway? >> Not in years. >> Not in years. When was the last time you were on Beeline Highway? >> Going to play basketball at Dyer Park. >> I'm saying further, I mean further further northwest Beeline Highway. Remember when Detective Evans says we weren't here to trap you or trick you or anything else like that? I promise you we're not here to do that. Can I ask you a question? >> Yes, sir. >> How about a hookup? You have a You said you've been with your fiance for a few years. >> Yes, sir. >> Do you ever stray a little bit and maybe, you know, look to see if you can get some variety in your romantic life? >> It has? >> Yes. >> Okay, do you know all the the partners that you've had? >> Not really. A lot of them were like from Backpage. >> From Backpage? >> Yeah. >> So, you frequented Backpage before? >> I did. >> Have you called up and made a date on Backpage? >> I have. >> Okay, and any any have any problems when you met a girl on Backpage? >> No, sir. >> Any kind of violence or anything or girl says you didn't pay me enough money or anything else like that? >> I was I'll You said to be honest, I'll be honest. Normally when I was calling Backpage I was either extremely drunk or on something. So, I always went with money. So, I didn't have to have that issue. >> Yeah. But you were successful in accomplishing your goal. In other words, can I be frank with you? You got laid, right? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. All right. And I appreciate your honesty. Thank you. >> The current cell phone that you have now, is that the phone that you were utilizing to communicate with these females? I'm assuming they're females and not males, right? >> Yes, sir. >> That you would hook up with and have sex with. How many partners, how many encounters would you say you've had with females that you've met via Backpage or some other social media site? >> Uh probably 50. >> At least 50? >> Yes, sir. >> And when did this begin? Throughout throughout your adult life or is there a certain point when this started? >> Um since I got back here. >> In Palm Beach County? What about when you were in Daytona? >> No, sir. >> No, just in So, starting in roughly 2012? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. And is it is this something that you started doing out of curiosity or out of loneliness? What was it that led you to Backpage? >> Um I was working a lot and my chef made a joke and told me about it. And I tried it out once and >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, I started. >> Well, Rachel Base, she she advertised via Backpage. >> Yeah. >> You you never met her on Backpage? >> I don't remember a lot of them, sir. I'll be honest with you. >> Okay. You say when you say you don't remember a lot of them, what does that mean? >> It means it it I went in, I did what I did and I left. >> Okay. Would you typically use condoms with them? >> Yes. >> Always? >> Yes, sir. >> Was there ever instance where you didn't use a condom? >> No, sir. >> Never? Whatsoever? >> In West Palm Beach when you used Backpage, can you recall where you would go, you know, to uh have the date? >> Uh, it was multiple hotels. >> Any particular hotel? >> Um the Ramada where I used to work at. Um the Lexington the Columbus Lakes >> Yeah, I know Lexington. >> There was a I think it was a Holiday Inn Days Inn on Forest Hill Street. >> Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Was there one particular place that you relish more than the other like that was your go-to spot or it just was more sporadic? >> Wherever they told me to meet them at. >> What about inside your car? >> Never. >> Never? Have you looked at this picture real good, Mr. Hayes? >> Sir, I don't know this woman, sir. >> You don't know this woman? >> By now, detectives have established that Hayes used Backpage to arrange meetings with women and sometimes met them at hotels. That doesn't prove anything about Rachel Bay, but it gives investigators a potential link between Hayes and a woman he says he never knew. And the detectives aren't finished testing that possibility. >> What about inside your car? >> Never. >> Never? Have you looked at this picture real good, Mr. Hayes? >> Sir, I don't know this woman, >> You don't know this woman? >> No, sir. >> She advertised via Backpage. You know, and to be quite frank with you, sir, we have irrefutable scientific evidence that establishes that you know her. Not only did you know her, you had sex with her. Mr. Hayes. >> I said I said I don't know this woman, sir. >> All right. We'll work with that. Let me ask you another question, sir. Tell me what you know about DNA, sir. >> I see it on TV all the time. You know, everybody has their own. >> Detective Evans is much better at DNA than I am. And I I I would ask my friend to give you a little tutorial on DNA. Remember what I told you a couple of ago? >> For more than 20 minutes, Hayes has answered questions without knowing the key evidence against him. Now the detectives are finally going to tell him why he's in that chair. >> Remember what I told you a couple minutes ago? >> Yes. >> We have your profile. Robert Tyrone Hayes. You say you've never met Rachel Bate? You say you've never had an encounter with Rachel Bate? >> I don't know this woman, sir. >> We have your DNA inside of her. >> That's impossible. I don't know this woman. >> Tell me about [snorts] your family, sir. How many brothers do you have? >> Well, two brothers and two sisters. >> Uh the brothers, are they biological brothers? >> Um we have the same mom. >> Same mom, different dad? Uh so, no twins, right? >> No. >> Okay, Detective Evans will keep talking to you. Just listen to him what he has to say. >> You say you have some understanding of DNA, right, Mr. Hayes? >> Yes. >> And you know how significant and powerful DNA is, don't you, sir? >> Yes. >> Wouldn't you agree that from what you know about DNA, we have our we all have our own unique profile? >> Yes. >> You say you've never had an encounter with Rachel Bate? >> Pardon? >> I don't understand. >> All right. You don't? >> No, sir. I don't have anything to do with this. >> Whatsoever? >> No, sir. >> Are you sure? >> I don't have I I don't hurt people, man. I'm I go to work and I come home. >> Did you make the statement to us a little while ago that sometimes you might have been a little bit messed up when you had the Backpage dates? >> Yes. >> Any chance that you had any loss of memory during those times? >> No, sir. >> All right. Tell me something. When you dated on Backpage, did you have a preference for black women or white women or you didn't care or what? >> Both. Whatever caught my eye at the time. >> Whatever caught your eye. So, you weren't particular. >> No, sir. >> All right. You said something just now that captivated me. Remember you said I didn't do nothing to anybody? You just said that, right? You did. Why did you say that? >> Why wouldn't I say that? >> No, no, I'm asking you what what led you to say I didn't do nothing to anybody. Because that's an unequivocal statement. >> You need to know why I'm here and you bring me about this this woman and them and I didn't do it. >> No, what I did, Mr. Hayes, I asked you about Rachel Bate. I asked you did her you know her, you emphatically said no. Asked you if you have ever had any communication or interaction with her, you emphatically said no. Asked you if you ever had any sex with her, you emphatically said no. Then a couple minutes ago you said I didn't do anything to anybody. >> Mhm. I'd like to speak to a lawyer and then this I won't talk to y'all no more. I don't know what it is y'all trying to pull on me, man, but I don't I want to go home to my family, bro. I don't I I I need to talk to somebody, man. >> Mhm. >> I won't do this no more. I need to talk to somebody. >> Well, Mr. Hayes, we understand that, sir, and you've been a gentleman with us thus far. Okay, we have a couple more things to do investigatively. So, what I would ask you to do is sit right here and remain calm. Okay, and I'll be right with you, okay? >> You need anything, Mr. Hayes, you knock on the door. >> I'm through with the thing, man. I just want to go home with my family, bro. I don't >> Well, you're not going home to your family, sir. You're under arrest. You're not going home to your family. You're under arrest. And I think you've pretty much figured that out. You want to talk to us, Mr. Hayes, we'll be more than happy to talk to you. You just knock on the door. All right? Can you understand me, sir? >> please. >> Huh? >> I'd like to speak to my lawyer. >> time. Give me couple [clears throat] Give me a couple of minutes. >> This killer is one of us. It's our next door neighbor. It's somebody that we go to church with. It's somebody who is a respectable, decent human being on the outside. >> On paper, Robert Hayes was an ordinary man. He'd studied criminal justice at Bethune-Cookman. He worked as a cook and took the bus to work. He'd been with his fiance since 2014 and they had a daughter. There was no record of violence. Nothing in that life prepared the people closest to him for the charge of murder. After detectives inform Hayes of his charges, [music] they allow him to use their cell phone. He calls the two women who know him best. His fiance and his mother. Listen to how each of them tries to make sense of what they're hearing. >> Yes. >> What's going on? >> Are you serious, Robert? >> I don't know what's going on. >> They said >> I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going on. >> He is dead serious. >> I don't know what's going on. >> They said you did it, Robert. That's what they said. They said today is the last day these people seen you. >> That's bro. That's I didn't do none of this, bro. >> tell them what you did. >> I didn't do none of this. >> The police saying you did. >> I don't know. I didn't do none of this, man. >> Oh my god, Robert. Don't even know this man with they have on you, Robert. Don't you understand? You don't understand. They They put you away for >> I didn't do this. I didn't do this. >> You got to prove it because they saying you did. I >> got to call these landlord people. I don't know how I'm going to do that. I don't even know. >> I didn't do this. I didn't do this, okay? I did not do this. >> What they say? You did it, Robert. You're not coming back. >> This is murder. >> Did you do it? >> I didn't do nothing. I'm trying to tell you that I didn't do nothing. >> Keep talking. What are they What they saying? We're not coming back. They say you were not the man and I'm thinking you are, man. So, you got to explain. >> [snorts] >> Yeah, I didn't do this, man. I'm telling you I didn't do this. I didn't didn't do none of this. >> Robert, you won't understand that So, what now? What now? What do we >> Now, I'm just waiting on the lawyer. I'm just waiting on the lawyer. I asked for a lawyer. I didn't do none of this. >> Robert, you better be telling me the Robert >> I'm telling you I didn't do none of this, man. This is >> Who was this other dude? They talking about I was with you, Robert. >> What other dude? >> They released my What >> What are you talking about? >> You Are you Are you you What What did you do with your past? What are you Do you know anybody? Do you know any of these these What the What the What the Robert >> I did not. >> with your past. >> I did not do this. Please call my mama. >> All right, then. >> I didn't do this. >> All right, I got to give the phone back. >> Call my mama. >> Yeah. >> Hello. >> Mama. >> Yeah. >> I need you to find me a lawyer, please. >> [snorts] >> Did you do all this stuff they say you done told me? >> No, I did not, Mom. >> Okay, I know that. I know that. >> No, I didn't. Is it the house with you and I just need a lawyer. I They asked me what I'm here for what and he said that I got to get in contact with one, so I didn't do this. I did not do this. >> I know that. >> I did not do this. [clears throat] >> I know that. But tell me this, who you say needed to get get you a lawyer? >> I need a lawyer. I I just need a lawyer. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. >> All right. >> Yeah. >> [snorts] >> Hayes appeared in Palm Beach County court the morning after his arrest. He had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Rachel Bay. Bond was denied and Hayes was appointed a public defender. He was later transferred to Volusia County where prosecutors there charged him with the murders of Laquanda Gunther, Julie Green, and [music] Iwana Patton. Opening statements in the trial of Florida versus Robert Tyrone Hayes were heard in February 2022. >> Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Over the next five or six days, Mr. Lewis and I, on behalf of the state of Florida, will present to you over a dozen witnesses, multiple pieces of evidence, many of them from all the way back in 2005 and 2006, and some as recent as 2018 and 2019. And this evidence will show, will prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that back in 2005 and 2006, the defendant in this case, Robert Hayes, killed not one, not two, but three women here in Volusia County, specifically in the city of Daytona Beach. >> After a 2-week trial, including testimony from a woman who survived an attack by Hayes and cooperated with police, the jury found him guilty on all three counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, but the jury did not reach the unanimous recommendation Florida law required at the time. Hayes was sentenced to three consecutive life terms without parole. As of the date of this upload, Hayes has not been tried for Rachel Baze's murder. That case remains pending in Palm Beach County, where he continues to face [music] the first-degree murder charge and the possibility of a death sentence.