The location where Laquetta Mae Gunther was found
Crime Scene Location in Daytona Beach, Florida
This is the alley where the Daytona Beach Killer, Robert Hayes, dumped the body of Laquetta Mae Gunther.
It is located beside 703 North Beach Street in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Gunther was found wedged between the two buildings above on December 26th, 2005. She was partially clothed and lying in a fetal position.
Hayes had shot the 45-year-old in the back of the head with a Smith & Wesson pistol and then dumped her remains in a narrow alley beside an auto parts store.
The medical examiner determined that Gunther was murdered on Christmas Eve, which was the same day that she had failed to show up for dinner at a friend's house.
DNA was recovered from the body, which later proved to be a match with Hayes.
Gunther was a house painter and former cook who had moved to Daytona Beach from North Carolina in 1985. She was also a sex worker with a history of drug abuse. At the time of her death, the mother-of-two was living on nearby Madison Avenue.
Gunther's best friend, Stacey Dittmer, said that she left her house on December 24th and promised to return later that night, as the pair had a Christmas Eve tradition of cooking dinner together.
When she failed to show up, Dittmer assumed that she had drank too much or lost track of time.
The following morning, Dittmer went looking for Gunther at local bars and noticed that the police had sealed off this area in the 700 block of North Beach Street. However, at the time, she had no idea that her friend had been found dead.
The murder remained unsolved for nearly 14 years.
In 2019, investigators used genetic genealogy to identify Hayes as Gunther's killer. The DNA evidence also linked him to the murders of Julie Green and Iwana Patton.
Hayes was found guilty of the crimes in February 2022. One month later, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Laquetta Mae Gunther crime scene location
The address and the GPS coordinates for this location are as follows:
Address
703 N Beach Street, Daytona Beach, Florida, FL 32114, USA
GPS coordinates
The latitude and longitude coordinates for the site are:
29.225430, -81.024960
Directions
It is situated at the intersection between North Beach Street and Madison Avenue.
Photos
Photos of the site and other related images.
North Beach Street
Image source: Google Maps
Gunther was discovered in this narrow alley between 703 and 705 North Beach Street in Daytona Beach.
The alley, which is now blocked off by a metal fence, sits on the southern side of a store called BAC Imported Car Parts Tools.
The building on the right is a lift station that belongs to the city's utilities department.
Following the murder, Stacey Dittmer and Gunther's other friends turned the small strip of land into a memorial by leaving flowers and candles at the site. However, city workers removed these items in 2011.
Laquetta Mae Gunther Campbell
Laquetta Mae Gunther Campbell was 45 years old at the time of her murder.
She had two children called Duston and Brianna.
Murder
Image source: The Orlando Sentinel
Gunther's body was discovered at 3.40 p.m. on December 26th, 2005. She was "crouched in a fetal position" next to 703 North Beach Street.
It was determined that she had been shot in the back of the head with a 40-caliber Smith & Wesson Sigma Series VE.
The police believe that she got into a car with Hayes.
Memorial
Although city workers removed the memorial in 2011, Gunther's friends remained undeterred.
Wreaths are visible in Google Street View images from 2011, 2015, and 2016.
Robert Hayes
Robert Hayes was found guilty of murdering Gunther, Julie Green, and Iwana Patton between December 2005 and February 2006.
He has also been charged with the 2016 killing of Rachel Bey.
The police questioned Hayes in 2006 after they learned that he had purchased a Smith & Wesson Sigma Series VE shortly before Gunther was found murdered. However, they did not consider him a viable suspect.
A criminal profiler for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement suggested that the "unsub" was white. This part of the profile may have led investigators astray, as some of the officers were reportedly shocked when genetic genealogy identified Hayes as the Daytona Beach Killer.
Daytona Beach Killer
Image source: Daytona Beach Police
In 2006, the police released a map that highlighted the locations where the Daytona Beach Killer victims had been found.
The three women were sex workers who were known to frequent Ridgewood Avenue and Atlantic Avenue.
Gunther's murder site
This photograph shows Halifax Urban Ministries volunteer Sharon Hickey praying at the site.
When news broke that a serial killer was on the loose in Daytona Beach, volunteers began approaching sex workers and homeless people on the streets to warn them about the situation.
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