I Would Find a Girl Walking (34 page)

Three years went by before Stano wrote to Crow again, in response to a letter that Crow had sent him. But his letter focused almost entirely on his “fears” that a “contract” had been put out on him, fears that Crow felt were all bogus: another one of Stano’s mind games to get what he wanted (in this case, a transfer to Q-wing with all of his belongings and weekly access to the canteen).

Here are the key dates in the story of the serial killer arrested in 1980 after murdering women throughout Florida. Investigators documented forty cases, although he claimed to have been even more prolific.

 

—September 12, 1951: Born in Schenectady, New York.

—February 1952: Adopted by Eugene and Norma Stano.

—1966: Came to Florida to stay with his grandparents briefly, then returned to Pennsylvania until 1973, when the entire family moved to Ormond Beach, Florida, permanently.

—March 21, 1973: Janine Ligotino and Ann Arceneau found stabbed to death in Gainesville, Florida.

—January 19, 1974: Remains of Cathy Lee Scharf found in Brevard County, Florida.

—April 10, 1974: Remains of Barbara Bauer found in Bradford County, Florida.

—November 7, 1974: Stano arrested on forgery charge, sentenced to three months in jail in Volusia County for stealing a check from his employer at a motel in Ormond Beach, Florida, then cashing it.

—November, 24, 1974: An unidentified body is found in a wooded area by police in Altamonte Springs, Florida. In the case of “Madame X,” Stano claimed to have picked up the woman for sex, then stabbed her with a hunting knife when she refused.

—January 3, 1975: Body of Nancy Heard found near Ormond Beach, Florida.

—June 10, 1975: Disappearance of Susan Basile in Port Orange, Florida. Her body was never found.

—June 21, 1975: Stano marries Teresa Esposito at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, Ormond Beach, Florida.

—July 22, 1975: Linda Hamilton found asphyxiated and drowned in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

—December 20, 1975: Susan Bickrest found strangled to death near Spruce Creek, Volusia County, Florida.

—February 11, 1976: Bonnie Hughes, 34, a Dundee, Florida, housewife, had been beaten in the face with a blunt instrument and was found slain in an orange grove February 11, 1976, in Polk County, Florida.

—June 15, 1976: Remains of Ramona Neal, who had been strangled and shot, found near Ormond Beach, Florida.

—September 23, 1976: Stano’s wife granted a divorce on grounds of physical abuse.

—November 11, 1977, to March 21, 1978: Stano worked in the mailroom of the
Daytona Beach News-Journal
as a newspaper inserter.

—November 12, 1977: Body of Mary Kathleen “Katie” Muldoon found shot to death in a ditch near New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

—April 9, 1979, to August 7, 1979: Stano employed as an apprentice mechanic at Zeno Marine, described as a “perfect gentleman” by the owner.

—January 27, 1980: Mary Carol Maher disappears from a bar frequented by Stano. She is found stabbed to death three weeks later—February 17.

—January 31, 1980: Stano started to work as a prep cook at Hampton’s Restaurant, Daytona Beach, remaining there until the date of his arrest.

—February 17, 1980: Remains of Mary Carol Maher found in Daytona Beach, Florida.

—April 1, 1980: Stano is arrested for attacking Donna Marie Hensley, who survived.

—April 15, 1980: Remains of Toni Van Haddocks found in Holly Hill, Florida.

—November 5, 1980: Skeletal remains of an unidentified woman found in Port Orange, Florida.

—September 2, 1981: Stano sentenced to three consecutive life terms after pleading guilty to the slayings of Nancy Heard, Toni Van Haddocks, and Mary Carol Maher.

—March 7, 1983: Stano receives two life terms in Gainesville, Florida, for the slayings of Janine Ligotino and Ann Arceneau.