Robert Tyrone Hayes (born March 12, 1982) is an American serial killer who was convicted of three murders in the Daytona Beach, Florida, area between December 2005 and February 2006.

In December 2007, the murder of a woman in the same area caused a re-investigation to be brought forward, but again, Hayes remained elusive.

[7][8] On September 15, 2019, authorities charged Hayes with one count of first-degree murder based upon DNA tests.

[2][14] Robert Tyrone Hayes was born on March 12, 1982, in West Palm Beach, Florida, the youngest of four children.

[3] Laquetta had gone missing two days prior on Christmas Eve, when she was making dinner plans with her friend Stacey Dittmer.

DNA was recovered, along with a shell casing that allowed police to identify the make and model of pistol used (.40-caliber Smith & Wesson Sigma Series VE).

[4][5] Authorities received an anonymous telephone call describing the location of Patton's body, but the caller was eventually identified and questioned, and is not a suspect in the killings.

[4] Police believe the victims voluntarily accompanied their killer, possibly in a vehicle, and were subsequently murdered and dumped in the same area of Daytona Beach.

[3] Police believe she was killed December 11, 2007, when she left her house which she shared with her grandmother to buy a bag of ice.

[21] Police have further stated that the circumstances surrounding the case are eerily similar to the three previous unsolved homicides.

[23] On March 7, 2016, the naked body of 32-year-old Rachel Elizabeth Bey was found dead alongside a highway near Jupiter, Florida.

Those include 19 deaths along the Interstate 4 corridor between Tampa and Daytona Beach...", but it also noted that "all but one local law-enforcement agency denies any serial-killer cases on its books.

"[24] Between December 2010 and April 2011, the bodies of ten women were found buried under numerous beaches along Long Island, New York.

If it were to be true, then that meant an unidentified serial killer was responsible for up to 18 murders across the East Coast of the United States between 1996 and 2010.

[26][27] DNA collected from Daytona Beach Killer victims was run through a genetic database used by people trying to find long-lost relatives and a link to Hayes was established.

[30] On February 22, 2022, Hayes was found guilty in the murders of Laquetta Gunther, Julie Green and Iwana Patton.