Rachel Bey, a 32-year-old woman, was found dead on March 7, 2016, near Jupiter, Florida. Her body was discovered by construction crews along the Beeline Highway. Authorities later determined that she had been strangled, and her jaw and teeth were broken. Bey had struggled with drug addiction and was known to work as a prostitute in West Palm Beach, approximately a mile from the home of the suspect, Robert Tyrone Hayes.
Hayes, a 37-year-old man at the time of his arrest, was charged with
the first-degree murder of Rachel Bey. DNA evidence found on Bey's body matched samples collected from other murder scenes in Daytona Beach dating back to 2005 and 2006. Hayes was suspected of being the 'Daytona Serial Killer,' responsible for multiple homicides in Florida. His modus operandi involved targeting women who were either sex workers or had histories of drug use. Three of his known victims—Laquetta Gunther, 45, Julie Green, 34, and Iwana Patton, 35—were found murdered in Daytona Beach. Another victim, Stacey Gage, 30, was killed in 2008, though authorities lacked physical evidence linking Hayes to her death.
Investigators were able to connect Hayes to Bey's murder through genetic genealogy. Authorities collected DNA from a cigarette butt discarded by Hayes, which led to a match with evidence found on Bey's body. Hayes was arrested at his home in West Palm Beach and remained in custody as the case progressed through the court system. Prosecutors in Palm Beach and Volusia counties announced their intent to seek the death penalty if Hayes was convicted.
Hayes had previously studied criminal justice at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach. At the time of the earlier murders, he was a student, and later, he lived in Palm Beach County, where he was raising a child. Law enforcement had questioned Hayes in connection with the Daytona Beach killings years earlier, as he had purchased a firearm similar to the one used in those crimes. However, he was not arrested at the time. It was only after Bey's murder that authorities revisited his potential involvement in the earlier cases.
The arrest of Hayes was considered a significant breakthrough in solving multiple cold cases. Authorities believed that had he not been apprehended, he would have continued killing. The case underscored the importance of forensic advancements, particularly genetic genealogy, in identifying suspects in long-unsolved crimes.
