FL FL - GERALD STANO -confessed to murdering 41 victims, 1973-80

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Hi, Chrissiepoo. I'm aware of the controversy over Stano being considered a suspect in so many different murders. It seems to be a problem with many SK who lead LE on about crimes they might or might not have committed. I think you hit the nail on the head. Some of them are "awkard loners" who crave attention but can't find it in the conventional ways.

Your mother must have been really spooked when she found out the truth. It's another example of the way predators intermingle with the rest of society, and most of us never suspect what they're really capable of doing. Thank goodness your mom didn't become a victim.

:Welcome1:
 
It definitely spooked her but it shows that he was calculating instead of sporadic. He had the opportunity to kill but he didn't - apparently people saw them leave together so he would have had to account for where my mother was if something happened.

She still can't believe he did this. He was weird but not that weird.

I'm trying to drill her on what his creepy friend's name was. From what it sounds like he is definitely a person of interest in all of this.
 
Was in in Florida in 1973/74 because the green duster is a hit with me on who almost abducted me. The car was green, had some rust or primer on the vehicle. Can anyone tell me? I've been wondering all my life who this low life that almost captured me was.
I know how you feel. I too have been haunted by the man who pulled up beside me that foggy morning. I wonder how many other young girls had the same life altering experience? You and I were lucky that day or perhaps our gut feelings kicked in.

Thank you for posting. It seems to help me not feel so alone in my own quest. The police were really not interested. I guess it has been too long ago. I just can't help but think the descriptions we have couldn't help some of families of the missing girls from that time period. You would think they would at least try to help us help the families but I felt as if the police just did not want to take me seriously.

5 girls went missing in Jacksonville in the same time frame. One was found buried in a shallow grave not too far from the area where my incident took place. Another girl found deceased on the opposite side of town also lived and/or caught the bus in my neighborhood. I am just frustrated...I wish somebody would take the time to try and put my description of the car, man and put it together.

Thanks again!
 
My mother actually knew Gerry. One of her best friends was the former wife of his (adoptive) brother and Gerry would tag along when they would hang out. My mother describes him as being awkward and dorky. They were friendly towards each other but he never flirted with her in any way although she was very pretty. He was always respectful, not an obvious "woman-hater" or violent person.

Here's the kicker:
One night, he drove her home.
In the same car that he picked up his victims and transported their bodies.
She says the car smelled like death and thought this was because he liked to go fishing a lot and maybe spilled some bait or fishy water in the back seat.

My mother also said that besides hanging around his brother and his brother's friends he also had another friend who he associated with a lot. My mother cannot remember his name but she described him as creepy. Has there ever been mention of a friend of his? She thinks that there is a possibility he did not work alone and might have took credit for the murders his friend committed.

There is also a chance that he was "fed" unsolved cases during his interrogation and took credit for them to make himself sound more.... grandiose.... than he really was.

He loved attention... he just didn't go out of his way to get it, being the awkward loner he was.

I will ask her if she has any more interesting information on him.
I hope your Mother can remember the name of the other person. It could have been just what you said about two working together. I would like to know if your Mother ever remembered a baby blue duster or torino with a navy blue hard top. The car I saw the morning of my incident looked clean as if it was new. It was two door with no special strips. Maybe see if she recalls if he was from the local area of florida.

Thank you for posting...I am still trying to solve for myself who this man was.
 
Deborah Lowe is my sister. Trust me, we do make a stink over this case any and every chance we get. The Florida police are so tired of hearing from us...but....we don't care....cause we are REALLY tired of not knowing, not getting any answers, and we are so Fed up with being unable to locate our sister or her remains...we want to bring her home. This case was so mishandled from day 1.....it has been almost 40 years, and her entire police file at Pompano Beach police department consists of 4 pages. That alone says it all....she deserves so much more than 4 tiny pages.
I am so sorry for your family's loss.

I know you must be frustrated with the police and the efforts or lack of. I have tried several times to get somebody to listen to me about the man who approched me in Jacksonville. I have spoken to a retired detective who handled one of the deceased girls case in jacksonville. 5 went missing in the same time frame and one found about 3 miles from my house in a shallow grave and another girl lived off dean road about 3 miles in the other direction and another girl rebecca greene use to catch the bus in my neighborhood or may have actually lived in that neighborhood and we were all near the same age. All went missing as they were going to the majic market or store...just as I was doing that morning but I guess the police feel my incident has anything to do with the other cases.

I pray that your family finds the answers you are entitled to. God Bless!

I believe he was in Florida during that time. I believe he may had made several trips from up north to visit his adoptative mother in Ormond Beach prior to moving here. I believe he passed through Jacksonville, Florida on his many trips back and forth. I also think he spent a lot of time in his car because that was what he was most proud of. I think he cruised around a lot and if saw a opportunity...I think he would have acted on it.
 
Serial Killers Timelines is a project of the psychology department at Radford University with a timeline and summary of information for each of various serial killers, including Stano. It doesn't mention the move to Florida, but I've read in at least two other sources that he relocated with his parents in late 1972.

http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc 405/serial killers/Stano, Gerald.pdf

This seems to be about the best timeline we have for him. Maybe follow the murders to find the dates/locations?

LINK to Gerald Stano information and chronology file:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22096&page=2

Does anyone know where/ when in Pennsylvania he lived and traveled?

Uhhh did you know your link links back to this thread?
LOL just thought I would point that out
 
I know how you feel. I too have been haunted by the man who pulled up beside me that foggy morning. I wonder how many other young girls had the same life altering experience? You and I were lucky that day or perhaps our gut feelings kicked in.

Thank you for posting. It seems to help me not feel so alone in my own quest. The police were really not interested. I guess it has been too long ago. I just can't help but think the descriptions we have couldn't help some of families of the missing girls from that time period. You would think they would at least try to help us help the families but I felt as if the police just did not want to take me seriously.

5 girls went missing in Jacksonville in the same time frame. One was found buried in a shallow grave not too far from the area where my incident took place. Another girl found deceased on the opposite side of town also lived and/or caught the bus in my neighborhood. I am just frustrated...I wish somebody would take the time to try and put my description of the car, man and put it together.

Thanks again!
I hear you loud and clear. That day I'll never forget and I just know if I was hypnotized or something I could give a detail description of him. I can now only state the size, hair texture, color and the car. I know I saw the license plate but cannot recall but I bet it could be brought out.

I told my mother, she didn't believe me, so no cops were ever called. This fact haunts me to this day for if this guy is a SK, how many woman could I have saved if it was reported and something done about it. The What If's I live with, but I will state a FACT that this guy had bad intentions.

My picture of me at the time fit some of the victim's looks too.
 
This seems to be about the best timeline we have for him. Maybe follow the murders to find the dates/locations?

Uhhh did you know your link links back to this thread?
LOL just thought I would point that out

My search window must have jumped between the time I found the Stano Timeline and when I marked it to go into my post. I believe that the first link you reference is the same one I intended to include.

It is interesting that the FBI profilers could nail down the fact that he wet the bed in 1962, and yet cannot state with certainty where he was at most other times.

I was wondering when he was in Pennsylvania, because there are a number of unsolved disappearances and homicides of young girls there in the mid 1970's.
 
Debora Sue Lowe Missing, 13, since February 29, 1972 from Pompano Beach, FL

Debora Sue Lowe
Missing since February 29, 1972 from Pompano Beach, Broward County, Florida
Classification: Lost, Injured, Missing

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: September 19, 1958
Age at Time of Disappearance: 13 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 125 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown long, straight hair; brown eyes.
Marks, Scars: A small scar on her left leg
Clothing: A yellow blouse, black pants with vertical rose stripes and a tan poncho.
AKA: Debbie
Dentals: A chipped front tooth; Crowded upper teeth.
DNA: Available in CODIS

Circumstances of Disappearance
Lowe was last seen walking to Rickards Middle School in Pompano Beach, FL. Her parents called the police when she failed to come home from school.

The family was new to South Florida. They had just moved down from West Virginia.

Gerald Schaefer, one of South Florida's most brutal serial killers has been named as a suspect. Schaefer, a onetime Martin County police deputy, had been linked to the deaths of 20 or more girls and young women between 1969 and 1972, including at least two other girls from Pompano Beach. His victims ranged in age from 9 to 25.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Broward County Sheriff's Office
954-493-8477

--
Pompano Beach Police Department
954-786-4200

Agency Case Number: 72-203684

NCMEC #: NCMC1009377

NCIC Number: M-653207855

Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:

Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Florida Missing Children Information Clearinghouse
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The Miami Herald
Broward County Sheriff's Office
Doe Network
 
Deborah's brother sometimes posts here as Still Seeking Answers. He is aware of Stano but the family is pretty sure the one who took Deborah was Schaefer. Their father sometimes hung out with Schaefer so there was a connection there.
 
I wonder if Stano has ever been looked at as the abductor of 17 year old Amy Billig from Coconut Grove, FL? She was last seen trying to get a ride to her dad's office on March 5, 1974. I have always felt like the motorcycle abduction theory is what people assumed happened, so other theories/suspects were discarded. I am reading I would find a girl walking, about gerald stano, and he has confessed that he killed over 40 women in the 70s and 80s, usually young girls who would be walking alone or hitch hiking, which Amy was. He would take them on a ride in his Plymouth Duster car, and drive with them for hrs before killing them, he used various methods because than cops would not connect the dots between victims as easy. He would dump the bodies in secluded areas and cover the with thicket bushes or branches. Not all of his victims were found, or even known, and being he did this all over FL, I wonder if Any was a victim too. Anyone know if he has ever been questioned in her disappearance? Or looked at as a suspect?
www.freewebs.com/findamybillig
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Help-F...05088089544267
 
This book has piqued my interest in seeing if Gerald had any other victims, here are some possible ones due to vital stats and circumstances:
*Amy Billig: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Help-F...05088089544267
*Mary Michelle Sprague: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2080dffl.html
Angela Sigrid Ramsey: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/49dffl.html
Patricia Action: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1947dffl.html
**These two I feel most likely could have been Stano's victims, especially Mary Sprague since she worked late nights at a strip club in Dayton Becah, FL, which Stano would go looking for prostitutes/strippers late at night in Daytona. I also wondered about other missing women, like Kimberly Rae Doss, but there wasn't enough info to rule them in.
Any thoughts?
 
Hello all. Sorry I have not posted in this thread lately - life has a way of distracting you sometimes!

I hope your Mother can remember the name of the other person. It could have been just what you said about two working together. I would like to know if your Mother ever remembered a baby blue duster or torino with a navy blue hard top. The car I saw the morning of my incident looked clean as if it was new. It was two door with no special strips. Maybe see if she recalls if he was from the local area of florida.

Thank you for posting...I am still trying to solve for myself who this man was.

I have sent my mother your question so let's see what she says. Like me she has a very visual memory but things like names escape us so perhaps she might remember seeing the vehicle. The only other person that might remember the name of Gerald's friend is Gerald's brother or his brother's ex-wife but from my understanding both are unwilling to discuss the topic. It might be worth a shot for someone who doesn't take offense to being hung up on/screamed at to do a little digging and find a contact number for either one of them.
 
UPDATE:
She says, quote: "for the life of me I cant remember...I just know his buddy was wierd...nerd to the 4th power....they suspected him and interviewed him I think....Dont know what he drove....but he was from Daytona... He used to hang at the Tiki....." and that the friend in question was "Kinda fat, well chubby....not good looking, nerdy worse than Jerry, a hanger on kinda guy....Wracking my brains here that car sounds familiar....but I dont think I ever saw his car...."
Interesting, yes?
 
Was going through NAMUS and found this unidentified woman:
https://identifyus.org/en/cases/724

Fits his timeline and location. I sent this to an email address provided on the NAMUS contact page:

Hello Mr. Nance,

I am not sure if you are the proper contact for this email but the case manager does not have an email address provided on NAMUS so I figured I'd use yours so that you can forward this to the proper channels. Firstly, I am a "web sleuth" who researches cold cases/missing persons/unidentified remains. I was reading the details on this case and am wondering if there was any forensic evidence recovered from the body or the location where the body was found. If there was, has it been or could it be traced to Gerald Stano? The location and time frame fit with his activities in the area and I believe it is worth looking further into if there is forensic evidence to compare his DNA to.

I would appreciate a reply but I understand fully if I do not receive one.

Thank you.

Hopefully I will hear back!
 
dogperson,

that is a very interesting observation. I will have to look over his book, "I would fin a girl walking" to see if he mentions anything particular about the color blue. Stano was obsessed with disco style, dance and music. Most of his killings occurred in the 1970s. I wonder if the color blue plays into that at all?
 
Is there any indication Stano ever killed in GA? I noted that over 90% of his victims were wearing blue. My pet case is that of Carlene Sessions Tengelsen who disappeared in 1972 from a Georgia mall, wearing a man's blue dress shirt and blue jeans.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/tengelsen_carlene.html
I think it's unlikely. In 1971-72, Stano was struggling to put his life together. He finished high school, took a computer tech course, had a girlfriend, and a few different jobs. Naturally, he succeeded at none of it, and by 1973 (according to him) he launched his killing career in Gainesville, FL. I don't recall that he had a color fetish.


http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc 405/serial killers/Stano, Gerald.pdf

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/gerald_stano/index.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=A6FQywvBORoC&lpg=PP1&pg=PT10#v=onepage&q&f=false
 
Deborah's brother sometimes posts here as Still Seeking Answers. He is aware of Stano but the family is pretty sure the one who took Deborah was Schaefer. Their father sometimes hung out with Schaefer so there was a connection there.

I am Debbie's sister. I was 9 when she disappeared. I remember well the day the police came to our home, then needed my Mom to accompany them to the police station. They wanted her to look at the items found in Schaefer's mothers house to see if any of them belonged to Deb.

Nobody ever told us about Stano or to the best of my knowledge investigated to see if there was any link to my sister. I do notice that many of his victims had the long dark hair, like Deb had. Other than that I see nothing to indicate my sister as his type. I did not read up on all of his victims, but he was not in the habit of picking up girls on the way to school.

The four girls listed all look to me like they could have been victims of his. In an interview about Schaefer my sister one stated that we are all sad he is deceased. He took with him to the grave answers we need. We can never search his eyes for signs of truth as to rather or not he killed Deb. He would have most certainly lied anyhow.

The same is true of Stano. He took secrets to his grave that could have granted closure to other families. Serial killers are such horrible liars, so unless he told someone where the bodies were, he would not have been believable either. Confess, recant...confess, recant.....Oh the horrible mind games they play. I would still however like to know about the unidentified woman found with victim Barbara Baur.

As much as I would love to have Deb home and buried with her family, it is almost a relief to know that neither one of them can any longer torture the families by playing their sick games. We still search every day. We check, check and recheck the information of every Jane Doe we can find from any state.

Someday we will bring Deb home. It may not be this day, or the next day.....but it will happen someday. All of us now have grown children. We make sure they know about the aunt they never got to meet. We make sure they know the importance of bringing her home. Three of us have given DNA and it is in CODIS, so that if she is not home by the time we have all left this earth.....they will still be able to ID her. Our children will be here, with full knowledge, to make sure she gets home.

I am also curious if Stano ever killed in other states.
 

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