FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ On the morning of March 7, 2016, construction workers found Rachel Bey, a 32-year-old woman from Riviera Beach, cold, naked and dead on the side of Beeline Highway in Palm Beach County.
Investigators now say she was strangled and murdered by a suspected serial killer who may have slaughtered at least three women before her.
DNA collected from Bey's body broke open the case, and linked Bey's killer to three other execution-style murders of women in Daytona Beach between 2005 and 2006. After a years long investigation, Robert Tyrone Hayes, 37, was arrested for the murder of Bey on Sunday in Palm Beach County.
According to law enforcement officials from Daytona Beach, Hayes will likely also be charged for the murders of Laquetta Gunter, Julie Green and Iwana Patton, who were shot and killed between 2005 and 2006 in Daytona Beach.
There is also a possibility that more murders between 2005 and 2016 could also be linked to Hayes in the days and weeks to come.
Hayes appeared in a swift bond court on Monday morning and was denied bail.
In a press conference on Monday in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw praised the efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies in finding Hayes, including PBSO, The Daytona Beach Police Department, the State Attorney's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
"We are pretty sure he would have killed again," Bradshaw said.
FDLE special agent Troy Walker said genetic genealogy played a big role in finding Hayes and linking him to the murders in Daytona Beach.
"Killers like Robert Tyrone Hayes are the reason genetic genealogy is so important to public safety," Walker said.
.jpg?w=600)
