Gunther made her excuses though, saying she wanted to party at the then-popular Chubby's bar at the corner of Beach and Madison Avenue.ĭittmer, who keeps Gunther's ashes in her Mulberry Street home, never saw her best friend again. The 45-year-old had spoken earlier in the day with her best friend Stacey Dittmer who begged Gunther to come over for dinner so she could make gravy for a turkey. Gunther was found in a kneeling position, wedged into a narrow space between two buildings. "When things get bad in their lives, they start up again."
"If you look at the history of serial killers, when all is good with their lives, they stop (killing)," said Chitwood, who inherited the case, becoming chief about three months after the last death in 2006. Whatever the killer's situation, Daytona Beach police Chief Mike Chitwood believes he will strike again. The killer would leave police puzzled two more times that winter.īecause of his elusiveness, several theories about the man's identity have blossomed over the years: The killer is a cop. 26, 2005, police believe she was murdered two days before on Christmas Eve, or the very early hours of Christmas.
Laquetta Gunther, known as a tough labor hall worker who feared little and was known in most of the watering holes on and off Ridgewood, was the first killed. Three women, all prostitutes who frequented the shadowy crannies of Ridgewood Avenue looking for the next trick for just enough money to buy booze, cigarettes, drugs and food, were shot in the head execution-style a decade ago with the same gun. DAYTONA BEACH - The tips continue to trickle in, yet the murders remain unsolved.