serial killers in brevard county, florida serial killers in brevard county, florida

Bradbury had been struck in the face with something and was tossed in the ditch a full day before she was found. ", He refused to carry the phone, but then he rarely left the house without George. Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? A serial killer, cunning and profoundly evil, was on the loose. To girls it makes a difference. According to records, he battered his wife and enjoyed humiliating her sexually. He was originally arrested in December for only the attempted murder charge, but officials announced their updated case to include . Her car was found days later in Mims. These days Ed Humphrey lives at home with his mom in Indialantic. Details of the deaths, locations, were shared repeatedly. And there was the black dog, Chiba, a Rottweiler-German shepherd mix that was a gift from Misty during the couples happier times. He had been shot six times in the torso. He also had a proclivity for wearing women's undergarments. "He's one of our best employees. The Florida Gay Bar Murders: Gary Ray Bowles was a bisexual who cruised the Florida gay bars in the mid-1990's looking for men to murder and rob. In 1974, Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies discovered human bones tied up in the mangroves in an area known as Burnt Bridges off Florida's A1A highway. The murders occurred over several days, which made them all the more terrifying. She was found dead in her home in May. Marc Claycomb of the Melbourne Police Department. UPDATED 3:45 PM ET Jun. As for his own behavior, Ed says: "I can't help it if my body (needs) lithium. Neither will police talk. View our online Press Pack. The set was found in woods between Dairy Road and Hollywood Boulevard in south Brevard in December 1985. The fraternity brothers do not report the incident until Sept. 4, after publicity that Humphrey is a suspect. . "And I remember Grandma yelled when she hit her head, and Mom called the police immediately without knowing what was going on. The victims fiercely resisted, which caused Giles to draw his gun to shoot them, but his pistol malfunctioned and misfired, and the girls managed to escape. "And, like, they point in my face telling me, 'Don't do that again, man. Timothy Harris is serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of Lorraine Hendricks, whom he had pulled over in his squad car on I-95. Hayes, 39, was convicted by a Volusia . J.D. Instead, more than a year later, the grand jury indicted Danny Rolling, a Louisiana drifter also charged in the attempted murder of his father. I mean, it's just a really bad feeling--knowing that wherever you go people are judging you, and they don't even know you. On July 23, 2000, in Merritt Island, Florida, a local judge thought he spotted a lifeless manatee floating in the waterway behind his home. The killer used a "razor sharp" instrument.) In October 1979, Giles escaped with two other prisoners. It was shortly after midnight on Thursday when Misty stopped and asked her mother how she looked. BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. For weeks a slew of seemingly mysterious deaths - from a suspected suicide found on the banks of a scenic riverside neighborhood to a body found lying in the middle of a roadway in a residential area of Port St. John - have turned up across Brevard. He finally moved back to Indialantic with his mother, where things went smoothly until March 1992, when he and some buddies went on a spring break camping trip to Key West. [10] Following Giles' arrest, he was investigated as a suspect in the disappearances of more than 11 girls who had been reported missing since August 1973 and the murders of several others, but in January of the following year, most of the missing girls were located, and Giles was no longer suspected. "Their strategy was to keep Ed in jail, to hold him without charging him in the Gainesville case," he says. "It's hard for me to picture him doing anything discreetly.". State law allows for his or her identity to remain anonymous. For several years, the whole family lived with Ed's maternal grandparents. Brevard County is indeed home to a diversifying population. More red flags arose during a search of Hucks home, where authorities found white duct tape and Publix bags under the kitchen sink. His stabbed body was found on the beach there in November 1984. Giles's background was an ordinary one - hewas one of four children from a stable family who enjoyed a perfectly happy, loving childhood with no abuse. In the ten-year period during the 1980's, the state recorded 247 serial murders making Florida the third most dangerous state in the United States. -- Amanda Griffin. Earlier that summer, investigators learned, Ed had been kicked out of the Gatorwood apartment complex where two of the victims were killed. Only time will tell if it was a case of serendipity or simply a weird coincidence. "My mouth dropped open when he told me," she says. TAMPA Three people have been shot and killed in the last two weeks in Seminole Heights, and police say the cases are related. 1. Instead, he got 62 hours of community service at the local Humane Society--which liked him so much it hired him afterward. They learned Misty and Hucks relationship, which was marked by rocky times, had ended a year earlier, althoughHuck described their current status as friends with benefits to police. By the time the Melbourne case involving Robineau was reported by police, speculation began to run rampant that something odd was happening with the multiple deaths, authorities said. ", A police officer told state investigators that 10 days before the killings Ed claimed he was going to Gainesville to "cut up some women.". And an odd thing happened: Agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement showed up and began questioning him about the murders. Tracy Paules and Manuel Taboada, both victims of Gainesville, FL murderer Danny Rolling in 1990. In Palm Bay, police initially did not release information about the badly decomposed body of a man in his 50s found Jan. 15 in a wooded area off Biddle Street in the northeast section of the city. Whatever the case, you may want to consider reading on before that Spring Break trip to Daytona. Read: Florida serial killers who terrorized our towns The women he was known to have killed ranged in age from 12 to 34. It worked--but it also made him dull, sluggish, overweight. He apologized, cried and told his pursuers: "Please don't hurt me.". He no longer saw any point in getting up in the morning. He landed on a grassy shoulder and wasn't hurt badly, but he spent the next three months in a psychiatric ward. Her hands and feet had been bound by red and white nautical rope tied in a distinctive cow hitch knot taught and usedby the Coast Guard. Their bodies were found, in some cases raped, in orange groves or wooded areas in Brevard County. "Don't take a picture of me with the knife," he says. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. She was living on the streets. Blood spattered an easy chair, the carpet, the coffee table. In 11, they have leads, a few suspects and insufficient evidence to make an arrest. Sheriff's officials think she a victim of Christopher Wilder, a serial killer who police suspect killed at least 11 women across the country. Name : ELEANOR SWIFT Location : 7801 Ridge Road, Seminole, Fl Date : 2/13/1987 Synopsis : This case is related to the murder of Opal Weil. Divers came out with a red and white nautical rope with burnt ends just like the cord used to bind Misty. He didn't want to go to school because he didn't want to see anybody. "It seemed like when I lost my cool, he would keep his. Brevard County, State of Florida Robert Eugene Koehler Robert Koehler is accused of being the infamous "pillowcase rapist" who attacked at least 44 women in South Florida in the 1980s,. Four other Volusia killers have met the same fate. Walter Antonio (November 1990) Antonio was 62-years-old when his body was found on November 19, 1990, near a remote logging road in Dixie County. Police have found no motives. But it's dangerous to forget they are real people blending in among us. This earned him the ominous moniker of "The Beauty Queen Killer." Wilder's first victim was 20-year-old Rosario Gonzales, who was working at the Miami Grand Prix in which Wilder was a contestant. Townson has confessed to two murders in Memphis, Tennessee, according to a charging affidavit in Little's. "It was like, Oh, wow. Does that make him a serial killer? She saw what happened to him once, and she will not risk letting it happen again. Brevard is a 30-year-old . "I can't blame them for making Ed a suspect, but I can blame them for sticking with it. Her right eye was swollen shut. Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked. (This is the day after the first murders are believed to have taken place, but before the victims, are discovered. He was the youngest of four kids. He attended Titusville High School, where he took an interest in visual arts. They were Paula Hamric, a 22-year-old mother-of-two, Nancy Gerry, 18, Carolyn Bennett, 17, Sharon Wimer and Krista Melton, both just 14. He says she knocked his contact lens out and that made him angry. "He was very good with kids," says Farley. Bundy was tried in Miami in 1979. "Before that, I was doing awesome. [14][15], After his conviction, Giles was transported to serve his sentence at the Florida State Prison in Bradford County. Then he would drop into a crouch pretending to open fire. On June 26, 2014, the 24-year-old male suspect was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. He went from a motivated, friendly student into a deep depression.". -- A set of woman's bones, unidentified. She had white duct tape around her mouth and eyes, all signs of a homicide. They wonder if his death could have been. Bernard Eugene Giles (born April 9, 1953) is an American serial killer and rapist who killed five girls and women in Titusville, Florida between September and November 1973. Walls received a sentence of life in prison for the murder of Alger and for the killings of three others he would later confess to. FLORIDA TODAY's John A. Torres takes you to the scene of an actual John Preston "track" used in the 1983 case against Gerald Stano. "I've got feelings, too, and that stuff really hurt me. The family has posted a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. -- Darrell Brock, 24, of Cape Canaveral. [18], Last edited on 20 February 2023, at 14:03, List of serial killers in the United States, Confessions of a Serial Killer with Piers Morgan - Bernard Giles, "Bernard Giles: Story behind the serial killer and the crimes he committed", "FBI Assistance Sought In 2 Breward Murders", "Brevard Deputies Seek More Corpses Where 4 Were Found", "Man Jailed in Attacks Suspect in Murder Cases", "Space Eyes Search Area Where Bodies Discovered", "Giles is charged with the first degree murder of Nancy Gerry", "Slayer intended to kill victims. He glances again at the photographer. These rumors began to circulate in various forms after several unrelated deaths occurred over a period of several days, Ivey wrote in a social media post that appeared on Facebook late Monday. View properties, photos, nearby real estate with school and housing market information. -- Patricia Mallon, 41, of Melbourne. Her disappearance led detectives on a hunt filled with shocking twists and turns. The sick murderer is currently in a maximum security prison in Florida. The murders happened around 4:30 a.m. in Port St. John, Fla. He picked up smoking in prison. "I'd come in and there would be books open and calculators out.". Well, then that is not only a major story but it is also a fascinating one. But more investigative files are expected to be released later this month--evidence that may seem incriminating to Ed. The metamorphosis seemed to happen in a matter of days. "I feel 100 percent that the media is the main reason our country is the way it is," Ed says afterward, disgusted. He was rambling. Who is serial killer Bernard Giles and what crimes did he commit? 32934, FL Housing Market Overview. There were 'only' 120 cities in Florida where a city reported a murder to the FBI, meaning 87 places had no murder. Ed's dad, family friends told investigators, had a ferocious temper. It appeared that plastic bags from Publix Supermarket had been used to help submerge the body. -- Pauline Scandale, 82, of Indialantic. She was abducted three days earlier from her apartment complex. It's dangerousnot to fear them or be repulsed. To learn more about the case, watch One Deadly Mistake, airing Saturdays at 7/6con Oxygen, or stream episodes on Oxygen.com. I hope he lives a thousand years, Bob told producers,and remembers every day what he did to Misty.. They brought in heavy equipment and a . Ed ends up on the floor. It lets him have his old smile back. The various deaths were isolated incidents that were either by natural causes, drug overdose, or suicide, however, they had nothing to do with each other and were not deemed to be suspicious in nature, he said. He talks about politics (he's a Perot man) and his reawakening social life (he just had his first date in two years). In the spring, two independent examinations were conducted, which determined that Giles did not suffer from any mental illnesses or abnormalities. When the waiter brings him a birthday cake and large knife, Edward Humphrey prepares to make the first cut, then stops himself. He claimed to have enjoyed pretend-strangling his childhood friend, who played the role of a witch in one of the games, which was confirmed by a number of acquaintances from that period. Following his arrest, he fully admitted his guilt and was sentenced to several life imprisonment terms in 1974. Her mother, Linda Morse, told authorities she had last seen Misty three days earlieras shewas getting ready to go out. Human remains were found in the yard . I want to get married some day and have kids. He was also in a healthy marriage with 18-year-old wife Leslie, and had a five-month-old daughter Heather. On July 23, 2000, in Merritt Island, Florida, a local judge thought he spotted a lifeless manatee floating in the waterway behind his home. A Rockledge father was arrested Wednesday after he killed his 15-year-old daughter, ex-girlfriend and two others in a home near Cocoa, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said. Among Florida's 380 Death Row inmates, many are guilty of ghastly killings. [8][9], On December 10, 1973, Giles lured two underage hitchhikers into his car and drove them to the woodlands outside Titusville, where he attempted to attack them. And rarely does anyone say anything to his face, except to tell him they're on his side. The investigative records on the GainesviUe murders are filled with entries of Ed Humphrey scaring people in the final months before his arrest. He remembers arriving home after midnight and awakening his grandmother. -- Danny O'Brien, 43, of Melbourne. He confessed to the murder of Hamric, and during the trial, pled guilty to the murders of the three remaining girls, as well as a series of non-lethal attacks and attempted murders against others. The investigation has cost more than $5 million, taken over 130,000 man-hours, amassed 1,500 pieces of evidence and involved more than 6,600 investigative leads. "The main thing is, I'm just like anybody else," he says. He knew what was happening. The victims were the parents of Heather Wendorf, a friend of Ferrell's.. He only escaped the death penalty by confessing to the murders. Following his arrest, Gore led law enforcement to the bodies of three of his victims, including a mother and her teenage daughter, and he was eventually given the death penalty for multiple counts of murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault. As Ed talks about it now, his voice is small and his eyes diverted. Police have withheld possible motives. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com . Brevard County Sheriffs Office Agent Gary Harrell located the partially-clad body of a woman floating face down in the Indian River. Email us attips@the-sun.co.ukor call 0207 782 4368 . Police are withholding possible motives. She was last seen at the Colonial Motel in Melbourne a few days before her body was found. She was found nude, face-down in a mud puddle along a northwest Melbourne dirt road, where she had struggled with her assailant before she was killed in July. CBS . Her fully clothed body was found shot in the head on January 31, 1974. Her death sentence was vacated on 12/6/90. His face smashed into the windshield, leaving deep wounds, and he broke his leg so badly doctors had to implant a steel rod running from his hip to his knee. "And I was glad to do it.". Always," recalls Scott Bedesem, a friend since junior high school. She was found nude, bludgeoned and tied to a burning bed in her home in April. Her fully clothed body was found in a palmetto thicket, shot in the head, on December 10, 1973. Samuel Little, possibly America's most prolific serial killer, murdered close to 100 people. Investigators then submitted the hairs stuck to white duct tape on Mistys body to a West Coast lab for analysis. Ed's bail, originally set at $10,250 was increased to $1 million - 100 to 200 times the scheduled rate for aggravated assault. Beginning with the oldest, here are the unsolved cases: -- Donald McGinty, 69, of Cocoa. Due to the plea bargain terms, he was spared the death penalty, and on August 13, 1974, was given several terms of life imprisonment. And Ed Humphrey is still a free man with a lingering cloud over his head: suspect. Her skeleton was found on Christmas Day. According to FBI profiler, Robert K. Ressler, John Crutchley fit the profile of a serial killer, even though he was convicted of only a single non-fatal kidnapping and sexual assault. Yet the Sunshine State is. When he was arrested for hitting his grandmother and questioned by state agents, sources say, Ed spoke of someone named "John" and claimed to have knowledge of the Gainesville killings. Asource I was interviewing for the next season of my podcast series "Murder on the Space Coast," handed me a folder. John Wayne Gacy killed 33 men and boys between 1972 and 1978. He insisted on his innocence, and in early 1974, his lawyers filed a motion for a forensic medical examination, which was granted. The judge called the Brevard County Sheriffs Office, whose officers raced to the scene. Harrell told One Deadly Mistake that he was struck by Hucks lack of empathy as he spoke of the young woman whose life had ended so brutally. She is a savvy and persistent woman who tenaciously guards Humphrey's contact with the media. Unfortunately, after the body was brought to the coroners office, an autopsy revealed itwas too decomposed to determine the cause of death. Both parents drank too much. Still, Rolling has pleaded innocent--and Don Lykkebak expects Ed will be a target in the trial. Police are withholding possible motives. Featuring true crime tees, hoodies, sweatshirts & merchandise for men and women. Dont forget to follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FTjohntorres. (Pacific Photos) An overwhelming percentage of serial murders are men. On October 23, 2002, Huck, who Mistys father, Bob Morsecalled a gutless coward, was. According to his testimony, he began to make his first attempts to attack girls in 1969, after dropping out of school, but was unsuccessful. The two talked in June at the Krispy Kreme doughnut store where McGrath worked. [11][12], While sifting through the cases, a forensic ballistic examination confirmed that Gerry had been killed with a revolver belonging to Giles, and he was subsequently charged with her murder. [4][3], Carolyn Jan Bennett, 17, disappeared on November 15, 1973. I thought they'd already filled her in on who I was and it just kind of slipped. She was quite shocked.". The cops came and asked for identification. He was shot in the chest during a September 1981 robbery outside the liquor store where he worked. Police are withholding possible motives. When does Ed stop being a suspect?". Gore was executed by lethal injection on April 12, 2012, while in 1985, his cousin Fred Waterfield, was given multiple life sentences for two counts of murder and two counts of kidnapping, as well as 15 years for manslaughter. Joseph Smith is currently at the Florida State Prison in Raiford for the 2004 abduction, rape and murder of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Sarasota. On the same day that I was scheduled to attend a lecture presented by Florida Tech's Lifelong Scholar Society examining our morbid obsession with serial killers, something strange happened. Everyone needs true crime merch - so stay sexy and don't get murdered! Giles is currentlyBrevard County high security prison in Florida where he is serving life in prison for the murder of five women. Genetic tests conducted on pubic hairs were similar to Ed's - and about 8,000 other people in Alachua County. This is the first extensive interview Ed Humphrey has ever granted. [4][5], Paula Darlene Hamric, 22, disappeared November 17, 1973. He was found guilty of escape and given an additional 15 years imprisonment. When I got a job, .when I got good grades in school, they weren't calling me. Copyright 2023 ClickOrlando.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. It's going to be worse next time.' Some women actually spared their lives by engaging me in conversations," he said. Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Again, why are we obsessed with serial killers? 23, 2021 VIERA, Fla. Brandon Lee Bradley, who is on death row for shooting and killing Brevard County Deputy Barbara Pill during a 2012 traffic stop, will be sentenced. I'm not able to make. His grandmother, now passed away, forgave him. The time frame is precise in his mind. That was the start of it all. Detectives believed that shed been dumped in the water, possibly from a boat. "Here was a kid who was held up as a ass murderer," Mackenzie says. Maybe it's because their behavior is so far from ours that it somehow makes them less real and more like monsters.