Terror in Gainesville, Part 2

*Last Sunday's night's program on "How It Really Happened," featuring the Gainesville murders of 1990, reminded me that I never did finish my posts on this case.   Apologies!  Rectifying that now.*

For part 1 of Terror in Gainesville, go here.

The 1990-1991 school year should have been the optimistic start to a new decade for the University of Florida.  John Lombardi was readying for his first semester as the school's newest president; Steve Spurrier was prepping for his first season as the Gators' head football coach.  More than 36,000 students had flooded Gainesville during August; by the end of the month, many fled in fear, leaving those who remained behind to sleep in shifts, huddling up into groups of as many as 20, some with baseball bats and other weapons at their side.  Many strung beer cans across their entries and rooms at shoulder level or placed plates on the floor; anything to give them some type of warning if an intruder should enter.   Some tried to make the shared sleeping spaces more of a slumber party, with food and even slasher films but many were terrorized and traumatized.

In just 72 hours, a serial killer had gone on a deadly rampage through the peaceful university town, leaving five students slashed, stabbed, and mutilated.  The streets that were normally teeming with young collegiate were now host to news trucks and various media outlets who, with the typical slowness of summer, quickly infested the area to broadcast images of grief-stricken and fearful students across the country.   As well as sensationalize every gory detail that was known then, reporting even more mundane ones like Mace, which had sole for $4.95 just a week earlier, was now selling for $25; and that UPS was rushing shipments of locks, hardware, and guns to the now-barren shelves.

Gainesville residents, some of whom had previously left their doors unlocked with a trusting nature that was no longer the norm by 1990 in most of the country, now shirked behind double-locked doors, turning on lights in every room of their homes.  The sound of a branch cracking or owl screeching sent them to their phones to call for help.  Once the police arrived, however, some of the same callers wouldn't open their door to the responding officers out of fear that the unknown killer was masquerading as law enforcement -- or worse, that the killer was a member of law enforcement.  Those who did open their doors to the police did so with drawn guns.

Summer nights, once a time to relax and enjoy cooler temperatures as the sun went down, were now dreaded.

Gainesville is a college town through and through.  There is pride for the school, pride for the football team.  If something affects the school, the town comes a calling and vice versa.  The city and the university banded together, enjoined in fear and worry.  For its part, the school offered to refund tuition to the students that chose to leave and for the students that chose to stay in Gainesville, did not penalize them for missing classes.  Lounge areas of residence halls were opened up for those students who were too afraid to go home to their off-campus residences.

The pressure on local law enforcement was immense.  Everyone, from students to their parents to the university, demanded answers as quickly as possible.  Local law enforcement, following the discovery of Christa Hoyt's body, had sprung into immediate action.  Gainesville's usual crime (that did not include murder) dropped drastically, thanks to the increased presence of the police, who literally looked to be on every corner.  The fact that many businesses closed once the sun went down, and the streets were basically deserted, helped.   For the authorities, on whose increased watch Tracy Paules and Manny Taboada had been massacred, there was a single-minded desire and determination to catch the monster responsible for the destruction of these students -- and anger.

Although some fiction books, television shows, and movies make the capture of criminals seems a relative breeze, the reality is that serial killers are typically not that easy to catch.  This was in 1990, when DNA testing was in its infancy, making their jobs that much harder.  Furthermore, serial killers not only escalate in violence as they accumulate victims but also in their methods and "education;" meaning that by the time they are serial killing, they become better at avoiding detection.  Serial killers also rarely stop of their own accord, leaving the investigators and P.D. in Gainesville to wonder not only if this unknown killer had struck before August 24, 1990 but when he might strike again.

As quickly as the vicious murders began in Gainesville, so they appeared to end.  Sonja Larson and Christina Powell fell victim on late Friday evening/early Saturday morning; Christa Hoyt on late Sunday morning; and Tracy Paules and Manny Taboada on late Monday evening/early Tuesday morning.  The city held its collective breath as Wednesday passed, then Thursday and then another weekend was upon them.  While news of the killings themselves were unsettling, the sudden abatement was nearly as unnerving.  Why had the killer stopped?  Were they still in the Gainesville area?  Was he only a weekend killer?  Would he strike again?  And if so, when?

On Wednesday, the day after Tracy and Manny had been discovered, Marcia West, the founder of Gainesville's first center for female assault victims, organized a march through downtown; the same day that the university and local police held a joint press conference.   It was announced at the press conference that some 100 investigators, forming a task force, would be working on the investigation -- the largest manhunt in Florida's history.  Those investigators who had worked on the Ted Bundy case back in 1978, after Bundy attacked four Chi-Omega sorority sisters and one Florida State student off-campus in Tallahassee, killing two, and abducting and murdering 12-year-old Kimberly Leach in Lake City, were asked to come back and assist with the Gainesville case.

While the investigators gave little details to the media and worried public, for fear of compromising the integrity of their investigation, by the press conference on Wednesday they already had what seemed to be a solid suspect in Edward Lewis Humphrey.

Humphrey, 19 years old, was a student at the University of Florida.  Six foot two and over 200 pounds, he walked with a limp from a car accident and had many scars on his face.  Described as a loner with very few friends, those that knew him said he bragged about being in the Recon and 82nd Airborne (not true) and that he stated he hated women.  He had done six stints in mental institutions over the previous few years, was known to carry a large hunting knife on his leg, and until the week prior, he had lived at the Gatorwood Apartments, where Tracy and Manny had been murdered.  His roommates had kicked him out due to his "acting crazy."  

John Douglas and Jim Wright, the two FBI psychological profilers who had been sent to Gainesville, to provide a profile for the unknown killer, believed that Humphrey fit the profile but cautioned detectives about releasing any information to the public, believing that such information might push Humphrey -- or the killer if Humphrey was not him -- to commit suicide.  

On Thursday morning, Humphrey was arrested in Indiatlantic for beating up his 79-year-old grandmother, who told cops that Humphrey told her she was going to die and struck her, leaving her bloody.  He was taken to the Brevard County Detention Center in Sharpes.  His grandmother, after receiving medical treatment at the hospital, then recanted her story and said she struck the refrigerator.

While law enforcement had maybe a dozen suspects they were checking out -- and SWAT, complete with K9s, was regularly swarming the southwest section of the city -- Humphrey was at the top of their list.  They found that more than 20 disturbance phone calls had been made from Humphrey's grandmother's house over the summer; many of the complaints had to do with Humphrey and knives.  On August 6, Humphrey had been arrested at Patrick Air Force Base for having concealed weapons -- a marine knife with a seven-inch blade and a Buck stainless-steel six-inch knife.  At the time, Humphrey claimed he wanted to swim to Iran to kill people.

The same morning Humphrey was arrested for beating his grandmother, the Orlando Sentinel ran a story that not only identified Humphrey as a major suspect but reported that one of the victims had been decapitated.

Already discouraged by a clear leak in the department, the initial questioning of Humphrey left more questions than answers for many.  During the interrogation, Humphrey insinuated that he had a split personality named John; that John had committed the killings; and he put himself at the Williamsburg Village Apartments at the time that Sonja Larson and Christina Powell were being killed.  He also rambled on unintelligibly and got many facts of the case wrong.

By Monday, Labor Day, the level of fear began to drop significantly in and around Gainesville, with students returning to campus.  On Tuesday, nearly 1,000 people attended the memorial service held at UF for the five victims.  On the 34th Street Wall, students painted a more lasting memorial, putting all five victims' names in big, white block letters with a heart underneath.   On Saturday, more than 75,000 fans - - a record attendance -- filled Florida Field to cheer on the Gators in their season opening game, where a moment of silence in honor of the victims was observed.

Gatorwood Apartments 

While Ed Humphrey remained in jail on a $1 million bond, search warrants were executed for his Cadillac, his grandmother's residence, and the Gainesville apartment he had moved to after being evicted from Gatorwood Apartments.  Knives and tennis shoes were confiscated to be compared to the evidence found at the crimes scenes.  In a pillowcase, three detective magazines were found; all contained articles about decapitation.

Investigators had relatively sparse evidence for the number of victims and the extremely bloody crime scenes.  Footprints had been left at the third scene.  They knew the killer had used a screwdriver to gain entry into both the Hoyt and Paules/Taboada apartments.  Unidentified hairs had been found in the bedding of both Christa Hoyt and Sonja Larson.  Semen and blood had been recovered at all three crime scenes.

The Williamsburg Village Apartments 

Pubic hair taken from Humphrey was microscopically similar to the hairs found at both the Hoyt and Larson scenes but it wasn't enough to warrant a conviction.  Florida, an early leader in DNA technology, hoped that tests on the blood and semen would lead them to their perpetrator.  From testing they knew the killer was a blood type B secretor.  Florida would run DNA tests against Humphrey once his blood work came back - - a wait of about a week.

In the meantime, investigators began checking other unsolved homicides throughout the country.  One that got their interest was a slaying in November of 1989 in Shreveport, Louisiana in which a woman, her father, and her nephew were stabbed to death.  Much like Sonja Larson, the woman, Julie Grissom, had been dragged to the end of her bed after being killed and posed, with her legs hanging off the end of the bed and her hair fanned out around her.  The killer had poured vinegar in her vaginal area and put a towel at her feet.  And as with Manny Taboada, the male victims seemed to be collateral damage; they were killed quickly and efficiently while the killer's rage was directed at the female.

Christa Hoyt's apartment 

Investigators also attempted to find any links between the victims.  Believing that Manny was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, they zeroed in on the female victims.  The found that on Thursday, August 23, Sonja, Christina, and Christa had all shopped at the same Walmart within an hour of each other; Christa had checked out at 4:51 p.m. and Sonja and Christina had checked out at 6:07 p.m.    On Friday, August 24 at 3:05 p.m., Tracy and Manny were shopping at the Oaks Mall; Christa met friends at the mall that same day at 6 p.m.    Sonja, Christina, and Christa all went to the All Women's Health Center.   And if race was any motive at all, Sonja, Christina, and Tracy had all dated black men.   The connections were tenuous but detectives worked them doggedly.

Friday, September 7, 1990 would ultimately be the day that would lead to major developments in the case, although investigators couldn't have known it at the time.

Forty miles south of Gainesville,  at around noon on Friday, September 7, the manager of the Winn Dixie grocery store in Ocala was held up, with a .38 revolver to his head.  After collecting money from the registers at the front of the store, the robber walked out the front door of the store and ran to the nearby Palm Chevrolet.

The first responding officers immediately noticed a man fitting the description of the robber in the parking lot of Palm Chevrolet, sitting in a silver Mustang that would turn out to be stolen.  When officers asked the man to put his hands up, he complied but then accelerated into traffic.  He would top speeds of 60 to 80 miles per hour, bouncing off curbs before striking another car.  He took off on foot but was quickly apprehended behind a flower shop.

Unlike most people who were handcuffed and placed under arrest, this one liked to talk.  He emphasized that he knew his rights but he wanted to talk.  He told the officers  his gun was still in the Mustang, he had stolen the car from Tampa and he apologized for the trouble he had caused them.  He also said he had shot his father.  

His name was Danny Harold Rolling.

Christopher Wilder: The Cross Country Killer

Ask any true crime "fan" who Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, The Green River Killer, John Wayne Gacy are and you'll get an answer.  Christopher Wilder, while just as heartless and cruel, is a forgotten killer in the annals of crime.

Born in 1945 to an American naval officer and Australian woman in Sydney, he barely survived his birth (he was reportedly given last rites by a priest) and then nearly drowned in a swimming pool two years later.  At the age of three, a sickly child, he suffered convulsions that led to fainting spells.

Despite his shaky health, his childhood appeared to have been average until his teens.  He started peeking in windows and in 1962, at the age of seventeen, he participated in the gang rape of a teenage girl on the beach in Sydney.  Pleading guilty, Wilder received a year of probation to be combined with counseling and electroshock therapy.  Rather than helping him, it seems the shock therapy fueled his violent fantasies.  He began to foster a need to dominate women and hold them against their will.

At 23, Wilder married but his new bride left him after only week, once she discovered his dark fantasies.  She had also discovered that one of Wilder's passions -- photography -- led him to have photographs of naked women in his briefcase.

In 1969, now divorced, he headed for Florida, settling in Boynton Beach.  The building boom led him to a large economic success, making a fortune in real estate and construction.  He bought himself a nice home, boat, and cars, began racing and developing his photography.  From the outset, Christopher Wilder looked every bit the successful playboy.

In 1971, he landed in hot water again.  This time he was turned in to local authorities for attempts to get various women to pose nude for him.  He received a fine.  He kept his nose clean briefly but he simply couldn't stay out of trouble.  He forced a high school student to perform oral sex on him in a house he was renovating. She turned him in, resulting in him being taken to court.  Wilder told the judge that he was masturbating at least twice a week to the image of raping a girl and did not think what he had done was wrong.   Doctors that examined him believed he was not safe in an unstructured environment and needed supervised treatment.   Efforts to make a deal fell through and the case went to trial.  The jury, somewhat amazingly, acquitted Wilder.

In 1974, Wilder approached two girls in a shopping center and, posing as a photographer, attempted to entice them into a "modeling job" with him.  One girl agreed; he drugged and raped her in his truck.  He was allowed to plea bargain those charges down to probation with therapy.  Claiming he suffered from blackouts, the sex therapist Wilder was required to see believed that he was making progress.

In 1982, on a trip home to  Australia, he was accused of grabbing two 15 year old girls and forcing them to pose nude on a beach.  He bound them into subservient positions and masturbated on them before letting them go.  Wilder's parents posted his hefty bond and Wilder was allowed to return to Florida to await trial.  That trial would be postponed multiple times before the final date was set for April of 1984.

Rosario Gonzalez

On February 26, 1984,  an aspiring model by the name of Rosario Gonzalez vanished.  Rosario was 20, a beautiful girl who was working a temporary job distributing aspirin samples at the Miami Grand Prix racetrack.  Rosario reportedly knew Christopher Wilder and had posed for a book cover with Wilder as the photographer.  Witnesses recounted that she left with an older man around noon.  She never returned; she didn't even pick up her paycheck for the day's work.  Wilder was at the race that day, racing a Porsche 911.

On March 5, 1984, Elizabeth Kenyon vanished.  Beth, 23, a Miss Florida finalist and former Orange Bowl Princess, taught emotionally disturbed students but hoped to return to modeling in the future.  She too knew Christopher Wilder; she had dated him.  She was close to her parents and drove from her home in Coral Gable to theirs in Pompano Beach every weekend.  Her last visit with them would be on March 4, where they had seen a news report on television about the missing Rosario Gonzalez.  The following day, she went to work as usual.  The school's security patrol officer watched her climb into her car and drive away.  He was the last person, save her killer, to see Beth Kenyon.

Elizabeth Kenyon

The Kenyon family hired a private investigator to search for Beth and the investigator found that Beth had recently gone out with three different men - - one being her former boyfriend, Christopher Wilder.  Wilder had even proposed marriage to Beth but she turned him down, feeling their 17 year age difference too much.   As far as Beth knew, they had remained friends.  In fact, she had told her parents on March 4 that Wilder had gotten her several modeling jobs.

Wilder claimed that he had not seen Beth in over a month and the case seemed to stall before two attendants at a local gas station where Beth frequently purchased gas recalled seeing her on March 5.  She was filling up when a man in a gray Cadillac drove up behind her and paid for her gas.  They identified the man as Christopher Wilder.  According to the two witnesses, Beth stated the pair was headed for the airport, although she had not packed nor told anyone she was leaving.  Her car would later be found at the Miami International Airport.

The Kenyons' investigator also spoke with authorities in Boynton Beach and found that Wilder had a lengthy rap sheet for sexual offenses.   The noose was beginning to tighten around Wilder.

March 13, 1984 was his 39th birthday.  On March 16, the Miami Herald reported that a wealthy contractor and racecar driver was suspected in the disappearances of Rosario and Beth.  He kept his appointment with his counselor that day, who asked him if he had anything to do with the disappearances.  He denied it.   On March 18, he dropped off his beloved dogs at a kennel and withdrew close to $50,000 from the bank.   He told his business partner he was being framed and would not go to jail.  Then he climbed into his car, a 1973 Chrysler New Yorker, and took off on a trip that would result in death for many women.

Terry Ferguson

On March 18, 1984, 21 year old Terry Ferguson had gone shopping at a mall close to home in Satellite Beach, roughly two hours from where Wilder had fled.  When Terry didn't return home, her stepfather located her car in the mall parking lot.  About an hour after she had been last seen at the mall, a tow truck was called to a state road by Canaveral Groves to pull a car out of sand.  Wilder, claiming he had gotten lost, had placed the call.  He paid for the tow with his business partner's credit card, which he had stolen.

On March 20, 1984, Wilder had moved on to Tallahassee, where he had grabbed 19 year old Linda Grover.  Like Terry Ferguson, Linda had been shopping close to Florida State when Wilder approached her.  He conned her into accompanying him to his car by telling the pretty blonde he could get her on the cover of Vogue.  Once at his vehicle, he clubbed her and headed north, into Georgia.  He pulled off once to bind her hands and tape her mouth.  At another stop, he placed her in the trunk of his car.  In the town of Bainbridge, Wilder checked into a motel and removed Linda from the trunk, wrapped in a blanket.  Once inside, he glued her eyes shut, shocked her with electrical wires, raped and throttled her.  Linda managed to get into the motel bathroom, where she locked the door and began beating on the walls and screaming, hoping to awaken other guests.  Panicked, Wilder grabbed his belongings and beat a hasty retreat, leaving nothing of himself behind.  Terrified, Linda Grover waited for over half an hour before she would even venture out.  She then wrapped herself in a bedsheet, as her abductor had also taken her clothes, and hurried to the manager's office, where the police were called.

Linda Grover proved to be an excellent witness, as she remembered her kidnapper's car and his appearance perfectly.  As Wilder had used his own Florida driver's license to register at the motel, he was quickly identified.  An APB was put out immediately for both Wilder and his vehicle.

Despite the quick action, Wilder slipped out of Georgia and headed west.

Terry Walden

On March 21, 1984, Terry Walden, a 24 year old nurse, wife and mother from Beaumont, Texas, informed her husband that an older, bearded man had approached her and asked if she would model for him.  He pressed her, asking if she would go to his car to see samples of his work.  She refused and firmly told him to leave her alone.  Two days later, on March 23, Terry vanished.  A friend had seen her around 11:30 that morning, at the student union on campus where she took classes, but Terry was not seen after that.  Her orange Mercury Cougar was also missing from the parking lot.

Also on March 23, a female body was found in a snake-infested canal 70 miles west of Satellite Beach.  It would take dental records to identify it as that of Terry Ferguson.  The local newspaper reported the finding and a witness came forward saying that she had seen Terry talking to an older man the day she disappeared.  Looking through mug shots, and without hesitation, she picked out Christopher Wilder as the man she saw.

Suzanne Logan

On March 25, 1984, Wilder abducted 21 year old Suzanne Logan from the Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City.  Suzanne's husband, whom she had dropped off at work on her way to the shopping center, reported her missing when she didn't turn up for an appointment or to pick him up.  Suzanne was driven more than 180 miles north into Kansas, where he checked into the I-35 Inn in Newton.  As with Wilder's previous victims, she was tortured and raped.  He also cut her long blonde hair, leaving the locks in the motel room's trashcan.  After breakfast on the  morning of March 26,  Wilder drove to Milford Reservoir, just outside of Junction City, Kansas, where he stabbed Suzanne to death and left her body under a tree.  She would be found an hour after her death; some of her clothing had been removed and her face was badly bruised.  Suzanne wouldn't be identified for a week.

On that same day, March 26, 1984, the body of Terry Walden was discovered floating facedown in a canal.  She was fully dressed, tied with rope and her mouth covered by tape.  She had been stabbed multiple times.  There was no evidence of sexual assault.

Forty detectives were assigned to the case and by this point, the FBI had also entered the search for Wilder.

They found he had stayed at a motel near Beaumont, where Terry Walden went out, and a credit card in Wilder's partner's name was used for payment.  Wilder's abandoned Chrysler, without plates, was found; the assumption was that he was traveling in Terry Walden's Cougar.  They had a description of the car and a plate number but Wilder had a head start.  And they didn't know where he was headed.

Sheryl Bonaventura

On March 29, Wilder was in Grand Junction, Colorado when he spotted 18 year old Sheryl Bonaventura at a mall.  The pretty blonde teen, who had already done some modeling, was chatted up by Wilder and likely an easy mark for him.  Like the others, she was simply gone after speaking with him; her car remained locked and in the parking lot.

Unlike his previous victims, though, Sheryl was seen dining with Wilder in Silverton, where they told staff they were headed to Vegas with a quick stop in Durango.   On March 30, he and Sheryl were seen at the Four Corners Monument before he checked into a motel in Page, Arizona.

On March 31, Wilder was back in Utah, where he shot and stabbed Sheryl Bonaventura to death, leaving her body near the Kanab River.

Michelle Korfman

On April 1, 1984, Wilder arrived in Las Vegas and wasted no time heading to the Meadows Mall, where 17 year old Michelle Korfman was competing in a Seventeen magazine cover model contest.   Another photographer caught a photo of Wilder watching Michelle intently, with a broad smile on his face.  Witnesses would recall Michelle leaving with him, as well as Wilder approaching other women throughout the day with his modeling propositions.  Some of those he approached had agreed to meet him later in front of Caesar's Palace; he never showed.  Michelle's car was found in the center parking lot but Michelle was gone.

It's not known exactly when he killed Michelle Korfman but he disposed of her body near a rest stop by the Angeles National Forest in southern California.

On April 4, 1982, Wilder noticed 16 year old Tina Risico at a shopping mall in Torrance.  Tina had  just filled out a job application at Hickory Farms and he approached her as she left the store.  He told her he was scouting for models for a billboard and offered her $100 if she would pose for him.   She agreed and accompanied him away from the mall for her "test shots."  He took some photos before she told him she had to go home, at which time he became angry and pulled a gun on her.  He bound her, put her in Terry Walden's car, which he was still driving, and headed south to El Centro, just outside of San Diego and not far from the Mexican border.   He had already acquired a motel room, where he took Tina, tied her to the bed and assaulted her.  Unlike the unfortunate females before her, however, Wilder did not kill her.  A problematic childhood and sexual assault had left Tina more robotic after Wilder's assault, giving him no hysteria and panic to feed on.  It's possible he may also have considered that the young girl could help him to acquire other victims.

Tina was reported missing almost immediately.  The manager at the Hickory Farms in Torrance had seen Wilder loitering outside the store while she was inside; the manager identified Christopher Wilder from a mug shot.

By now, Wilder's image and dirty deeds were being reported on television and in the newspapers and the FBI had added him to their Ten Most Wanted list.  Knowing he had to get out of California, he headed east.  The two drove through Prescott, Arizona; Taos, New Mexico; Joplin, Missouri; and Chicago, Illinois.  In Merrillville, Indiana, he would spot his next victim.

Dawnette Wilt

Dawnette Wilt, like Tina Risico, was 16 years old and filling out a store application at the Southlake Mall when Tina approached her and, identifying herself as "Tina Marie Wilder," asked her to step outside the store to speak to the manager.  Wilder was waiting with his gun; he forced Dawnette into the car where, after putting tape on her eyes and mouth, he repeatedly assaulted her in the backseat while Tina drove east.   The trio would stop in Ohio for the night, where Wilder would terrorize Dawnette further, before driving across Pennsylvania and into New York the next day, stopping at Niagara Falls.  That night, Dawnette was once again repeatedly assaulted and both girls were threatened with death if they attempted to escape or make a sound.

It was while they were staying in the Niagara Falls area that Wilder saw a televised plea from Tina's mother for her daughter's safe return.  He bundled both his hostages in the car and directed Tina to drive to Penn Yan, stopping outside some woods.  He marched Dawnette into the woods, where he attempted to suffocate her but the girl struggled too much.  He then stabbed her once in the front and once in the back.  She pretended to be dead while he returned to the car and had Tina drive away.  Once she knew he was gone, she dragged herself to the roadside where a passing motorist saw her and called for help.

Dawnette Wilt told the police that Wilder was headed for the Canadian border in Terry Walden's car and had told her and Tina that he would not be taken alive.

Beth Dodge

Christopher Wilder, as always, was still hunting for victims.  On April 12, 1984 at Eastview Mall in Victor, New York, he laid eyes on 33 year old Beth Dodge, who was getting out of a gold Pontiac Trans-Am.  He had Tina persuade the woman to come over to their car, where he took her keys and forced her inside the Cougar.  He had Tina follow him in Beth Dodge's Trans-Am.

After a short drive, Wilder pulled in to a deserted gravel pit, where he had Beth get out of the vehicle and then shot her twice in the back.  The Mercury Cougar was then abandoned, with Wilder and Tina leaving the scene in Beth's car.

Wilder directed Tina to drive to Boston - - Logan Airport, more specifically where he told his captive that he was going to send her home.  After nine harrowing days, he bought Tina a ticket to Los Angeles and set her free.  So traumatized was the teen, she waited for him to shoot her in the back as she walked away to board the plane.  She told no one at the airport or on the plane of her ordeal. When she landed in L.A., she caught a cab to a boutique, where she purchased lingerie with money Wilder gave her.  She told the clerk that Wilder had cut her hair to resemble Jennifer Beals, the star of Flashdance.  She was spotted by friends, who took her to the police.  She told the police that Wilder had expressed a desire that she not be with him when he died.

Wilder, meanwhile, seemed to know that his time was running out.  After dropping off Tina Risico, he once again headed north toward Canada.

On Friday, April 13, Wilder attempted to grab another victim when he saw a 19 year old whose car had broken down on the side of the road.  He offered to give her a lift to a service station; when he began passing available service stations, she quickly realized what was up, threw open the door and leapt out of the car.  After she escaped, he threw out all of his belongings, including his camera and items of his victims' he had kept.  Then he drove into New Hampshire.

It was in Colebrook, about 12 miles from the Canadian border, that two state troopers spotted him at a service station.  They either recognized the car from BOLOs or Wilder's supposed erratic behavior.  His tan definitely indicated he was not from the area.  Although he had shaved off his beard, the troopers believed he resembled the FBI's wanted posters and so they pulled in.

New York Times article with photo of Wilder in death

When the troopers called out to him, Wilder dove into the Trans-Am, reaching for the .357 Magnum he kept handy.  A scuffle ensued with two shots ringing out.  Trooper Leo Jellison, who had jumped on Wilder's back, attempting to obtain the weapon, was hit as the first bullet passed through Wilder's body and into Jellison's chest.  The second shot decimated Christopher Wilder's heart, killing him instantly.  Leo Jellison would survive and recover.

Forty-seven days after Rosario Gonzalez disappeared and twenty-six days after his cross country spree began, it was over.

Found in Wilder's possessions when he died was the .357 Magnum, which would kill him, rolls of duct tape, handcuffs, rope, the electrical cord he had designed to shock his victims, a sleeping bag, his business partner's credit card and a copy of the 1963 book The Collector.  Written by John Fowles, it tells the story of a man who captures and imprisons a pretty young girl, keeping her in his basement and believing that because he treats her well, he will eventually win her love and loyalty.  Wilder had been so obsessed with The Collector, he had practically memorized in in its entirety.

Christopher Wilder's body was returned to Florida, where it was cremated.  Many questions remained though.  Did Wilder commit suicide?  Was he trying to escape?  Where were his victims that had not been found?  And how many victims did he truly take?

On May 3, 1984, the body of Sheryl Bonaventura was discovered under a tree in Utah.

On May 11, 1984, the body of Michelle Korfman was discovered.  She was so badly decomposed that it took a month to make a firm identification.

At his death, Wilder left an estimate reported to be somewhere between $2 and $7 million.  In 1986, a court appointed arbitrator ruled that the balance of the estate, after taxes, was to be divided between the families of his victims.

Rosario Gonzalez and Beth Kenyon have never been found.

Marianne and Christine

Over the years, Wilder's name has been connected to cases of other missing and murdered women.  It's impossible to say how many disappearances and homicides he's responsible for but it's entirely likely that he could have begun killing before February of 1984.

On January 11, 1965, Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock, both 15, were murdered at Wanda Beach in Sydney, Australia.  They were discovered the following day, partially buried in the sand.  The girls had been bludgeoned, stabbed and slashed and their killer had cut their clothing and attempted to rape both.  These murders came just over two years after Wilder had been charged in the gang rape.  He was one of three potential suspects in the killings and he closely resembled the sketch of the suspect.  The murders remain officially unsolved.

Mary Opitz

On January 16, 1981, 17 year old Mary Opitz went to the Edison Mall in Fort Myers, Florida with her mother and brother.  Growing tired, she had grabbed a bag of pretzels and headed to the parking lot, to wait in the car for her family.  Roughly an hour later, her mother returned to the car to discover packages Mary had been carrying, and the bag of pretzels, sitting on the trunk.   Police initially believed Mary to be a runaway, although her family disputed this from the beginning.

On February 11, 1981, Mary Elizabeth Hare, an 18 year old who eerily resembled Mary Opitz, disappeared from the same parking lot at the Edison Mall.  Like the case of Mary Opitz, no clues were left behind.  Mary Elizabeth Hare's car was undisturbed.

In June of 1981, Mary Elizabeth Hare's body was located in a field in a relatively undeveloped area of Lehigh Acres, Florida.  She was fully clothed and had been stabbed in the back.

The murder of Mary Elizabeth Hare remains unsolved and Mary Opitz is still missing.

In May of 1982, two sets of skeletal remains were unearthed in Loxahatchee, Florida.  The bodies, both females, were found close to property that Wilder owned in Palm Beach County.  One woman had been dead for several months at the time of discovery.  The other victim, found in a green nylon bag, had been dead for anywhere from one to three years and her fingertips were missing -- sliced off by her killer in a probable attempt to keep her from being identified.  It would take just over 30 years but in July of 2013, she was identified as 17 year old Tina Marie Beebe.

Shari Lynne Ball

On June 27, 1983, 20 year old Shari Lynne Ball left her home in Boca Raton, Florida, telling her mother she was going to New York to model.  Two days later, she called her boyfriend to say she was in Virginia.  That was the last contact Shari had with her friends and family.  On October 29, 1983 a decomposed female body, partially sunk in swamp water, was discovered in Shelby, New York.  No identification was found and cause of death could not be determined.  She was buried as a Jane Doe.  In 2014, after the body was exhumed to be tested against other missing woman, it was finally identified as Shari Lynne Ball.

Tammy Lynn Leppert

On July 6, 1983, 18 year old Tammy Lynn Leppert disappeared some time after 11:30 a.m. from Cocoa Beach, Florida, after getting into a heated argument with a male friend.  Tammy was already an established model and an actress, having appeared in such films as Little Darlings, Scarface, and Spring Break.  It was after shooting of Spring Break had concluded and she had gone to a weekend party by herself that she returned home "different."  She left the set of Scarface unexpectedly after four days and was reportedly fearful for her life in the days leading up to her disappearance, as well as possibly pregnant.  Tammy's mother, a modeling agent, filed a wrongful death suit against Wilder before his death; she later dropped the case, citing that she never truly believed her daughter was Wilder's victim.  Tammy has never been found and remains missing.

Broward County Jane Doe

On February 18, 1984, the body of a young woman was found face-down in a canal in Broward County, Florida.  She was somewhere between the ages of 18 and 35, had curly blonde or strawberry blonde hair, hazel eyes and a gap between her front teeth.  It was estimated she was strangled to death around February 16, 1984.  She remains unidentified today, known only as "Broward County Jane Doe."

Colleen Orsborn

On March 15, 1984, 15 year old Colleen Orsborn left her Daytona Beach home and vanished.  Wilder was staying in a motel in Daytona Beach on the same day.  Despite intense searches, Colleen could not be located.  In 2001, Colleen's brother received an anonymous letter detailing where her body could be found.  The letter was postmarked from Manchester, N.H.  No body was found where instructed and the lead turned out to be a dead end.  In 2007, there was a DNA match on a body that had been discovered in April of 1984 in Orange County, Florida.  The body, which had been partially buried near a lake, had been unidentified for more than thirty years before it was determined that Colleen had been found.

Wilder, at the Meadows Mall in Las Vegas, immediately prior to abducting Michelle Korfman

After Wilder had gone on the run, some of his employees in Florida came forward to say that he was the best boss they ever had - - a nice, understanding man who always paid his employees on time and what they were worth.  It's hard to marry the image of a kind, generous business owner with a vicious rapist, torturer and murderer but it appears that Christopher Wilder had two sides to his personality.  Even Beth Kenyon, who went missing in March of 1984, after dating Wilder and turning down his marriage proposal, had told her parents that he was a real gentleman.

Christopher Wilder, unlike other killers, including Ted Bundy, did not have the same sense of self-preservation.  Many, including Officer Leo Jellison who attempted to apprehend Wilder and was shot in the process, believe that the killer took his own life rather than face prison time and/or the death penalty.  Others believe that Wilder was going for the gun to shoot his way out of the situation and would have fled.  Tina Risico's statements seems to indicate that Wilder knew his freedom was coming to an end and he was going to choose how he would end his story.  Controlling to the very last.

His death, while sparing many from a public trial in which their daughters and loved ones' last moments would be painfully rehashed, also kept other families from knowing where their daughters were.   Had Wilder been taken alive, would he have talked?  I think it's possible that he would have been like Bundy, discussing his crimes, if at all, in a vague third person account before possibly disclosing details only when his own life hung in the balance.

Christopher Wilder is an enigma.  Like Ted Bundy, he was attractive to women, charming, intelligent, and successful.  He managed to sweet talk his victims exactly where he wanted them; appearing well-dressed and congenial, like Bundy, they trusted him until the monster awoke.

Wilder traveled great distances; although Bundy did so to widen his victim pool, Wilder took to the road because he knew authorities were on his trail.

He seemed to have multiple methods of death -- he would bludgeon, strangle, shoot, and stab -- although his victim type rarely waivered.  Some of his victims were taken due to proximity, opportunity and appearance; some, like Beth Dodge, merely as a means to an end (in her case, for her vehicle.)

Unlike Bundy, who once he had a victim firmly in his grasp, under his control and assaulted, he never intentionally let go, Christopher Wilder not only kept one -- Tina Risico -- alive but gave her spending money and put her on a plane back home.  Why?  Why demonstrate near compassion for one victim and show only cold, cruel brutality to others?  Was it her non-reaction to his assaults and promises of being killed?  Or did he see something in Tina that he recognized in himself?  A painful childhood or a question of where to fit in and belong?  Only Wilder could know, if he was even capable of recognizing it.

Did something happen to Wilder when he was forced to undergo shock treatments, which merged sexual desire and violence?  Did it start much earlier -- when he was having convulsions at three or a near drowning at two?  Or was he simply born void of conscience?

Headlines after Wilder's death; the male figure in the far left of the picture was Wilder

Photo:  Murderpedia

Bobby Kent: Murder Between Friends

Bobby Kent in 1992 

". . . They should be ashamed of what they did."

On July 13, 1993, a group of six teen girls and boys from the pleasant community of Hollywood, Florida, a middle class suburb of Fort Lauderdale, gathered at a local Pizza Hut, as many do during the carefree days of summer.  This congregation, however, wasn't meeting up to nosh and socialize but to discuss how they were going to commit murder.

Their chosen victim was twenty year old Bobby Kent, the only son of Fred and Farah Kent, who had immigrated to the States from Iran, changing their surname in the process.  Fred was a successful stockbroker, allowing his family a privileged lifestyle.  Bobby -- popular, gregarious and handsome -- had graduated from high school and attended community college.  He was serious about bodybuilding and had entrepreneurial dreams -- although those dreams were of a questionable nature.
Bobby's best friend was Marty Puccio.  He and Marty had met in the third grade and developed a friendship that was dysfunctional at best.  Marty's parents would recall the young boy coming home, after spending time with Bobby, covered in bruises and, at time, bleeding.  The Puccios believed this was some form of roughhousing and encouraged their son to cut off contact with Bobby or at least limit it but apparently did not take any other kind of action.  Sadly.

This love-hate relationship -- with Bobby both being playful and punishing toward Marty -- continued into adolescence.  The bullying became so bad at one point that Marty begged his parents to move away from Hollywood so that he might escape.  His parents refused, leading their son to live temporarily with relatives in New York.  Before long, though, Marty returned to Florida and back into his cruel relationship with Bobby.  He seemed unable to break away from the abusive connection.

It was during their adolescent years that both young men took up bodybuilding, spending a great deal of their time at the gym.  It was also said that they both began taking steroids, causing Bobby's already volatile and aggressive nature to worsen.

In the 11th grade, Marty dropped out of school.  This added to the list of grievances Fred and Farah Kent had against him as they ironically believed Marty was a bad influence on their son and wished to stifle the friendship.  

At some point after Bobby himself graduated from high school, he entered the business arena as a filmmaker.  As the gay subculture was at the height of its popularity in south Florida, he came up with the idea to film men masturbating and sell the tapes.  The pornographic venture did not go as planned, however, as the generally poor quality of the films made them difficult to sell.  It was also rumored, after the events of July 1993, that Bobby had pimped his taller, muscular friend out at gay clubs.

Marty had met Lisa Connelly, a shy, overweight 18 year old high school dropout and the two had fallen quickly in love, spending all their time together.  Lisa quickly noticed how Bobby treated his so-called friend and hoping to take his mind off abusing Marty, introduced him to her friend, Alice "Ali" Willis.  Ali, like Lisa, was also 18; she had already been married and given birth to a child that her parents cared for.

While friends dating friends would have made for a cozy quadrangle, Ali and Bobby only dated for a few weeks.  Bobby began abusing Ali, subjecting her to "bizarre" sexual behavior and, according to Marty later on, threatening both her and her child's lives.

Meanwhile, Lisa discovered she was pregnant with Marty's baby.  Feeling her boyfriend, and now the father of her child, would never escape Bobby Kent's torture, she began to plot how she could eradicate Bobby from both their lives.  Permanently.

She recruited her friend Ali -- Bobby's most recent girlfriend -- and Marty, of course.  She also added Ali's new boyfriend, Donnie Semenec, Lisa's cousins Heather Swallers and Derek Dzvirko and Derek Kaufman to their murderous band.   Kaufman was 22 years old and claimed to be a mafia hit man; Lisa felt his so-called contract killing knowledge would come in handy for their plans.

They chose July 14 as the day Bobby would meet his maker.  One day after their Pizza Hut meeting in which all the future killers had attended with the exception of Marty.

Ali, the former girlfriend who Bobby had allegedly raped, was used as the bait.  Marty called Bobby and invited him to a remote canal near Weston, stating they were going to race cars.  As an added incentive he assured Bobby that Ali would be there and was anxious to have sex with him.   Bobby agreed and was picked up from his home by the seven who would kill him around 11:30 p.m.

Upon arrival at the chosen site, Ali took Bobby off to a more secluded spot, on the pretext she wanted to talk with him.  Those remaining assembled their weapons -- a pipe, an aluminum baseball bat and two knives.    

While Ali, and Heather Swallers, who had caught up to them, distracted Bobby, the five co-conspirators snuck up on him.

The body of Bobby Kent

Donnie Semenec, Ali's boyfriend, plunged a knife into Bobby's neck.  Seeing Marty, Bobby pleaded with him for help, apologizing for anything and everything he had done and begging for mercy.  Marty responded by stabbing Bobby in the stomach.  Bobby attempted to run but was outnumbered.  Donnie, Marty and Derek Kaufman hit and stabbed his torso.  Marty slammed Bobby's head into the ground and cut his throat.  It was Derek, the self-professed hit man, who dealt the final blow - - beating Bobby's head in with the aluminum baseball bat and making sure Bobby Kent was removed from this earth.

The body was then rolled to the edge of the marsh.  They had chosen the location specifically on the belief that alligators would find the corpse and consume it, effectively destroying all evidence.  They tossed the baseball bat and knives into the ocean and decided they would all agree they had been together, hanging out, on the night of the murder while Bobby had been out on a date with an unidentified woman.

Bobby's family reported him missing when he didn't return home that evening.  Marty Puccio, as Bobby's best friend, was contacted by the police about Bobby's possible whereabouts.  Marty feigned ignorance about where Bobby might be and professed to be worried about his friend.  The cops may have had a gut feeling that something wasn't right but had nothing to go on.

However, like most teens, the seven killers could not stay quiet.

Lisa Connelly, who claimed that Bobby had raped her, confessed to her mother about the murder.  Her mother, in turn, contacted her own sister, who was Derek Dzvirko's mother.   The two sisters took their children to see their brother, who had friends in the police department.  They were then directed to Detective Frank Illaraza of the Broward County Sheriff's Office.  Dzvirko not only confessed everything to Illaraza, he led the detective to Bobby Kent's remains, still where his killers had left him.  The wallet in the pocket of the pants confirmed that it was indeed Bobby Kent.

Once Bobby had been found, the conspirators quickly cracked and began giving excuses as to why he had to die.  They claimed they were merely bystanders to what they had thought was going to be a simple beating.  Nope, they knew nothing about any murder.  The prosecutors dealt with it by trying each of the seven defendants separately.

Perhaps frighteningly, not one of the alleged killers displayed any remorse at trial.  Three of the defendants had not known or even met Bobby Kent prior to the evening of July 14, 1993, making their lack of remorse difficult to grasp.

The killers under arrest.  Top from left:  Puccio, Willis, Semenec, Swallers

Bottom from left:  Dzvirko, Kaufman, Connelly

Marty Puccio, the so-called best friend of the victim and who himself had been victimized by Bobby Kent for years, received the harshest sentence.  Charged with first degree murder, he was sentenced to death in the electric chair on August 3, 1995.  Bobby's mother, Farah Kent, believed justice had been served.  "Now he will fear for his life, as my son did for his," she remarked after sentencing.  In 1997, the Florida Supreme Court overturned his death sentence and commuted it to life with parole eligibility in 25 years.  He is serving his time at the Desoto Annex in Arcadia, where he has reportedly gone into the prison ministry.

Derek Kaufman, the 22 year old who had told the younger crowd he was in the Mafia in order to impress them, and who showed up for the murder party with a bat instead of the promised gun, was sentenced to life plus thirty years.  He is serving his time at the Gulf Correctional Institute in Wewahitchka, where he has incurred nearly twenty infractions, including drug use and disobeying orders.

As Donald Semenec's eighteenth birthday was on the day he helped to kill Bobby Kent, and having delivered the blow that started the frenzy, he was sentenced to life plus fifteen years.  He is serving his sentence, like Derek Kaufman, at the Gulf Correctional Institute in Wewahitchka.  Also like Kaufman, he has racked up an impressive count of infractions -- some twenty -- ranging from weapon possession to drug and alcohol use.

Derek Dzvirko was charged with second-degree murder and originally sentenced to seven years on May 12, 1995 but received an additional four years on his sentence for his attempt to lie on the witness stand after his initial sentencing, while testifying against the others.  He was paroled on October 1, 1999, after serving four years, and left Florida for Missouri, where he worked as a truck driver.

Lisa Connelly was sentenced to life plus five years.  Her sentence was reduced on appeal to nine years.  The alleged mastermind of the murder, she was paroled on February 3, 2004, after serving a total of nine years.  She gave birth to a daughter while incarcerated and is reported to live in Pennsylvania with her daughter and a younger son.  She has kept a low profile since her release, running a cleaning business and becoming a certified optician.

Alice "Ali" Willis was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to forty years on May 31, 1995.  That sentence was reduced on appeal to seventeen years for the murder charge and fifteen years for the conspiracy charge.  She was paroled on September 16, 2001, after serving just over six years.  Despite being picked up in 2013 for retail theft, a parole violation, she did not end up back in prison.  She is said to live in Melbourne, Florida with her husband and children.  She will remain under community supervision until September 15, 2041.

Heather Swallers was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to seven years.  When she took the stand on May 17, 1995, she did not follow Dzvirko's lead and lie and, in fact, turned in evidence.  She was paroled on February 14, 1998, after serving almost three years -- the first to be released from custody.  She reportedly resides in Georgia with her children.

In 1998, Jim Schutze wrote a book on the case called Bully:  A True Story of High School Revenge.  Three years later, the book was adapted into a film by Larry Clark, also called Bully, which starred Brad Renfro and Nick Stahl.  .

In 2013, Bobby Kent's sister Laila spoke publicly on the decision to allow all three female defendants and one male defendant to be released from prison.  According to the Sun Sentinel she was quoted as saying, "It disgusts me that they have freedom after killing someone.  They're horrible people and they should be ashamed of what they did.  They don't even deserve to be alive."

Bobby Kent's family had his body cremated and his ashes were scattered.


Somewhat similar to the Kirsten Costas case I wrote about yesterday, the Bobby Kent case is about bullying, although the Kent case much more directly so.  Bobby Kent was and remains a much less sympathetic victim than Kirsten Costas as he not only verbally abused others (even those he claimed were his friends) but physically tormented them as well.  If two of the women who participated in his murder are to be believed, Kent sexually assaulted and raped them -- one of them being the girlfriend of his own friend, Marty Puccio.

Also in possible opposition to the Costas case, there was a clear conspiracy and plan to obliterate Bobby Kent.  His murder didn't happen during an episode of assault or immediately following but was a clear, thought out design.

While there is never any excuse for murder, in this case there does appear to be extenuating circumstances.  The abuse dealt to Marty Puccio is not under dispute.  It seems clear that he had a victim mentality and reacted much the way abused persons do.  That gives me a small amount of sympathy for him.

What I don't understand though is why no one thought to take Bobby Kent's abuse to the authorities before deciding to mete out their own version of justice.  Maybe Marty Puccio had been beaten down -- physically, emotionally and mentally -- over the years by his so-called friend but the others cannot attempt to utilize that excuse.  Of course I am seeing this from the viewpoint of a fully formed adult.  The girls in the case were eighteen; is it feasible that while they may not have wanted their friends and family to know that Bobby Kent raped them, they were okay with being part of his murder?  And Marty Puccio was twenty years old but do we know how old he was emotionally in 1993?  He had been abused by Bobby for more than half his life by that point.  Would he have had the wherewithal to approach authority figures, even his parents?

And what of everyone involved in this sordid mess but Marty Puccio, Lisa Connelly and Alice Willis?  They had no real connection or interaction with Kent and yet they decided to join in and participate, even tangentially, in the cold and brutal murder of another human being.

I find the sentencing and time served troubling as well.  Read anything about this case and you will see many accusations of the female defendants in this case getting much better treatment.  I believe they caught a break due to their gender.  One of them hatched the idea and put it in motion, recruiting everyone else.  The other used herself in order to lure the victim and kept him occupied so that her fellow conspirators could get into place, readying themselves to murder.  While none of the girls may have wielded a weapon, under the law they are just as guilty as if they did.  Heather Swallers' participation in the murder seems much less involved and given that she gave evidence truthfully, I don't have a real issue with her brief sentence.  Connelly and Willis may be a different story; although I would certainly have sympathy if they were indeed victims of Bobby Kent's abuse.

I am not pointing fingers at anyone because the parents of all these young people involved suffered but . . . it seems their attitudes towards their children's behavior were excessively and exceedingly casual.  Roughhousing during play, for boys, is one thing.  But bruising of the body and bleeding is quite another.  I can't help but wonder what might have happened if Marty Puccio's parents had taken this matter to Bobby Kent's parents when they were still young children.  Or, if necessary, to the authorities.  Would it have saved Bobby Kent's life and spared Marty Puccio from a life incarcerated?  And what of Bobby Kent's parents?  Did they know their son was exhibiting such violent behavior?  And while Bobby allegedly wanted to enter the business scene, he looked to be trying to do so in a scuzzy way.  Did his parents have any idea of his involvement with the pornographic movies?

This case is troubling for many reasons.  The fact that a cruel and sadistic predator was allowed to roam freely for so long is infuriating.  The extreme violence dealt to him, while partly understandable in the eyes of his victims, is horrifying.  As is the killers' utter lack of remorse.  Was it from a form of PTSD?  Or worse, was it because these privileged and indulged teens simply had no conscience?

Perhaps the biggest mystery of all to me is why Marty Puccio's defense team never claimed any type of mental defect as a result of years of abuse.  How he got sentenced to death while the other defendants avoided that punishment entirely.  Was Marty judged more culpable because he made the phone call?  Or because he was supposedly Bobby's best friend?  is Marty really that much different than a battered wife who, after years of abuse and threats, kills her spouse?  Or do we put a different light on things because Marty is a man?

Does the Bobby Kent case trouble you as much as it does me?  Please let me know what you think in the comments.

What Happened to Tiffany Sessions?

Much like the case of Julie Love (which I wrote about here), the disappearance of Tiffany Sessions is etched in my mind as an indelible memory from the 80s, helped in part by the fact that Tiffany Sessions and I were the same age and both college students at the time.

Tiffany would disappear from Gainesville, Florida, the same town that would be rocked by serial killer Danny Rolling a year and a half after her disappearance.  The Gainesville Ripper's (as Rolling was dubbed by the overzealous media) crimes and capture would take much of the national news away from Tiffany.

Tiffany had been a student at the University of Florida, majoring in finance.  She was twenty years old that February of 1989, a pretty girl with blonde hair and brown eyes.  She left her residence at the Casablanca East Condominiums, dressed in red sweatpants, a long sleeved white pullover sweatshirt, and Reeboks, carrying a Walkman, and telling her roommate she was going to take a walk.  The only other item Tiffany had with her was her ladies silver and gold Rolex watch.

Witnesses would later come forward to say they had seen Tiffany that Friday evening, some saying she had been speaking to several unidentified individuals in a vehicle. and possibly entering the vehicle.  Authorities have never been able to confirm or deny these reports or whether that woman was Tiffany Sessions.

The case went cold until 1994, when a missing child's hotline received a tip about Tiffany, the caller claiming that Tiffany was being held against her will in Austin, Texas, with two other missing young women (Tracy Kroh and Elizabeth Miller) and the three were being forced to work as prostitutes.  Tracy had disappeared from Pennsylvania in 1989 and Elizabeth from Colorado in 1983 but the police departments from all three states (including Florida) got together to investigate before determining the tip was nothing but an elaborate hoax and the case went cold again.

Inmate Michael Knickerbocker, sentenced to life for a 1989 rape of a Gainesville college student the same age as Tiffany, and the 1989 shooting death of a 12 year old Starke girl, told fellow inmates that he had chained Tiffany to a tree the night of her disappearance and then murdered her shortly thereafter, disposing her body in the Calosahatchee River near Fort Myers.   Authorities searched the area but found nothing of note (which is not surprising given that the waterway could have taken any evidence quite a distance away and enough time had passed to destroy any remaining evidence.)  In August of 2002, investigators searched an area outside of Gainesville where he claimed to have buried her sweatshirt and recovered a piece of bloodstained material.  Tests were run to determine if the blood matched Tiffany's DNA but the results have never been announced.  It's been said that the material does not match that of a sweatshirt.

Finally, in February of 2014 the biggest break in the case happened as Alachua County named Paul Rowles as Tiffany's abductor.  Rowles appeared to have been a career criminal, sentenced to prison in 1976 for the 1972 Miami rape and murder of his neighbor, released in 1985 and then sentenced again in 1994 for sexual battery, kidnapping and lewd and lascivious molestation against a 19 year old woman who escaped.  Rowles was such a sociopathic and terrifying individual that his first wife, the one who came home one day to find out that her husband murdered their neighbor, refused to sign a sworn statement against him, forty years after the crime and even as he lay dying in prison of cancer. After his death, DNA linked him to the unsolved 1992 homicide of Santa Fe College student Elizabeth Foster whose body was found in a shallow grave only a mile from where Tiffany disappeared.  He was also known to have worked at a construction project along Tiffany's normal jogging path.  Furthermore, a day planner Rowles kept in prison had the notation "#2" written in on February 9, 1989 . . . the date of Tiffany's disappearance.  Serial killers are notorious for remembering the dates of specific events in their "careers."  If Paul Rowles killed Tiffany Sessions, she would indeed have been his second victim.

Tiffany Sessions is still missing and her case officially unsolved.  What do I think happened?  I believe she went for what was a normal walk that late afternoon of February 9, 1989.  On this day she went by herself rather than with her roommate, with sad consequences.  I believe Paul Rowles was at the construction site and saw Tiffany, a pretty victim of opportunity. He likely lured her with some type of ruse, abducted and assaulted her and then killed her.  I think he buried her, wearing the Rolex watch that has never turned up despite its serial number being on a hot list, in the area where he would dispose of Elizabeth Foster three years later.  Rowles would angrily deny to investigators shortly before his death that he had anything to do with Tiffany Sessions but killers lie.

What about Michael Knickerbocker, who claimed to have chained Tiffany to a tree and killed her?  More lies.  Knickerbocker was not even in the Gainesville area when Tiffany disappeared so I believe that rules him out completely.

Paul Rowles was a known and convicted sex offender and murderer.  Tiffany was the right age and in his "territory."  Tiffany's father Patrick believes that Rowles killed his daughter but so far, Tiffany hasn't been found.  A search of the 10 acre area where Elizabeth Foster was found has been conducted but finding human remains nearly thirty years after being buried or placed there is a long shot.  The Sessions family would like to find Tiffany and bring her home.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Det. Kevin Allen of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office at (352) 384-3323 or by email at kallen@alachuasheriff.org.

Find out more about Tiffany and her case at www.tiffanysessions.org.

Terror in Gainesville, Part 1

Photo courtesy of www.theexaminer.com

Prior to the summer of 1990, Gainesville, Florida was a stereotypical southern town, with loads of small town charm.  Pretty homes and oaks are everywhere; Gainesville is very much a university town heavily dependent on the University of Florida.  School pride can be seen everywhere, from the businesses that are kept afloat during the school semesters thanks to hungry and thirsty college students to the school's colors and the mascot - - the Gator - - being liberally used throughout the town.  Gainesville has its share of drunk and disorderly calls, thefts and even rapes but murder is rare.  As late as August of 1990, it wasn't uncommon for people in town to leave their doors unlocked.


Rival and neighboring city Tallahassee had achieved a level of unwanted notoriety in 1978 when serial killer Ted Bundy, sitting in cold Ann Arbor, Michigan, selected Florida as his next destination.  He chose Tallahassee thanks to its proximity the water, allowing the more landlocked Gainesville to avoid that fate.  Gainesville was just fine with that slight, preferring to be known as the birthplace of Gatorade and the hometown of musician Tom Petty and actor River Phoenix. 


August 1990 was the start of another school year.  The summer months in Gainesville are quieter than the rest of the year, with a great majority of the University's students returning home, leaving apartments vacated and bars and restaurants half full.  It gives Gainesville a sleepy, laid back atmosphere until the cars begin arriving with parents dropping off new students for their first year in college and away from home.

Sonja Larson

Sonja Larson, 18, and Christina Powell, 17, were like so many thousands of other students that August.  Both had graduated from high school the spring before and were coming to the University as incoming freshmen.  They had met during the summer semester while staying on campus in a dorm.  With a third roommate, they had rented a townhome style apartment at the Williamsburg Village Apartments, off campus but only four blocks from the school.  


Sonja and Christina, both the youngest and "babies" of their families, were outstanding softball players.  After attending a magnet school in her hometown of Deerfield Beach, Sonja, an Honors student, planned to major in education.  Christina had graduated from a Jacksonville Episcopal high school and as she excelled in Bible study, planned to major in theology.

Christina Powell

They both arrived in Gainesville on Friday, August 24.  They spent most of the day unloading their cars and then taking a trip to the local WalMart to buy items for their new home.  They had dinner together at a Chili's and then stopped at a convenience store so that Sonja could use the pay phone to call her mother.  Their home phone had not yet been hooked up and this was before cell phones.   The girls' plan was to get up on Saturday morning to continue with their unpacking and organizing and find jobs.  Their third roommate and Christina's parents were due to arrive on Sunday. 


Neighbors later reported hearing George Michael's "Faith" blasting from the apartment on Friday morning and a shower running around 6 a.m. on Saturday but could recall little else about their new neighbors.


Sonja had promised her boyfriend she would call him.  That call never came.  Christina's parents tried calling throughout that weekend before arriving on Sunday as planned.  Their knocks went unanswered; they called the police.


The police would find Sonja and Christina in their new apartment, both dead from stab wounds.  It appeared they had died sometime on Friday evening or early Saturday morning.  As if killing them hadn't been degrading enough, their killer had posed their bodies in lewd positions. 




Archer, Florida is about fifteen miles southwest from Gainesville, a tiny city that spans less than seven miles.   It's a relatively poor city perhaps best known for being where musician Bo Didley would die in 2008. 

Christa Hoyt

In 1990, eighteen year old Christa Hoyt, an Honors student, was attending Santa Fe Community College with the goal of joining the FBI to work in forensics.  Until mid-August she had shared a duplex apartment with a roommate; the roommate moved out amicably a week prior to Christa's murder. 


Christa was a cautious and dependable girl.  She was safety conscious and would never open her door to a stranger.  She worked in the records department of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office and was scheduled to arrive around midnight that Saturday evening, August 25.  Because she was so reliable,  her tardiness was quickly noticed.   By 1 a.m. her co-workers had notified the local police to make a welfare check.  What would greet them would be the stuff of nightmares and leave no doubt that Gainesville had an evil presence in its midst. 




With the news of a third murdered female being discovered in twenty-four hours, panic began to set in.   Parents called their children repeatedly, some insisting they return home for the semester.  Stores in Gainesville ran out of deadbolts, baseball bats, mace, stun guns and handguns.  Students remaining at the school buddied up, gathering in groups to sleep in shifts.   Female students asked male friends to stay with them, believing the presence of a man or men would dissuade the killer.

Tracy Paules

Tracy Paules was one of those females who, while very frightened by the news of the murders, felt safe with her friend and roommate Manuel Taboada.  Manny, 23, was a former football player, a burly 200 pound six footer who claimed the woman in his life was his cat, Sasha.  He and Tracy, also 23, had known each other back home in the Miami area and elected to go to Gainesville together.  Manny wanted to become an architect while Tracy had dreams of becoming an attorney.  While there had never been any romantic feelings the two, these friends were devoted, with a deep respect and love for each other.  They shared a residence at the Gatorwood Apartments, an older somewhat rundown complex, located on Archer Road about a mile from campus. 

Manny Taboada

On Monday evening, August 27, Manny had just started a bartending job at the neighboring Bennigan's and arrived home late.  Tracy was on the phone, chatting with a friend about the murders, and noted his late arrival.  Manny headed to bed just after 2 a.m., unaware that a killer was watching him and Tracy. 


The next day a friend dropped by to see Manny and Tracy and discovered their bodies.  Manny was dead in his bed; Tracy lay in the hallway, posed as Sonja Larson, Christina Powell and Christa Hoyt had been.  Both had been killed with vicious stab wounds.


Fear permeated every corner of Gainesville.  Students fled the city in droves, some never to return.  If the killer could overpower Manny Taboada, no one was safe.  The University cancelled classes as news crews and media from around the nation descended on Gainesville.   Gainesville, the little town that had managed to evade Ted Bundy more than a decade earlier, was now home to the Gainesville Ripper.

Part 2 of Terror in Gainesville continues here.