I Would Find a Girl Walking (35 page)

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, November 3, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, August 21, 1985

Ted Bundy was actually on death row at the same time. At some point, Stano wrote: “Yes I know, Bundy is in the next cell,” but he clearly was not very interested in talking about his infamous fellow inmate. Bundy was getting all the attention.

Denotes pseudonym

Denotes pseudonym

No other member of the Stano family corroborated this story.

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, August 21, 1985

Denotes pseudonym

Denotes pseudonym

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, August 15, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, August 15, 1985

Drs. Frank Carrera and George W. Barnard, Volusia County psychiatrists

Ramona Neal’s polka-dot bathing suit was a key factor in identifying her remains. Because it had been exposed to the elements, however, an investigator hung it on the clothesline at home to dry it out before tagging it as evidence. Unfortunately, a dog ripped it down from the clothesline and took off with it. Luckily, however, the suit ultimately wasn’t needed at a trial because Stano pleaded guilty.

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, January 19, 1986

February 26, 2008, by Kathy Browning, Associated Content. Reprinted courtesy of Kathy Browning.

Denotes pseudonym

Denotes pseudonym

“I had . . . a light green 1973 Plymouth Duster. It was a small about six engine with a 3 speed on the column, with Avenger 60’s with chrome slotted mags and high-jack air shocks, am/fm stereo eight-track, anti-theft door locks, and always in immaculate condition. It even had two chrome mirrors I put on. I was really proud of that car. I got it brand new from Cheltenham Chrysler in Penn.”—Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, August 29, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, October 21, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, October 21, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, October 21, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, October 21, 1985

This version of events was somewhat contradicted in a letter Stano later wrote to Kathy Kelly dated October 21, 1985, where he indicated that he left Bauer’s car in the motel parking lot, then hitchhiked back to Daytona Beach, retrieved his car, then drove back to Pennsylvania.

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, October 21, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, October 27, 1985

Even decades later, Toni’s mother, Jackie Haddocks, never responded to repeated contact attempts. Perhaps she wanted to forget. Perhaps she remembered too much.

In later years, Stano never discussed Toni Van Haddocks’s murder. Maybe he felt his macho image would be tarnished if he discussed buying sexual favors. This was probably made even worse by the fact that Van Haddocks was black, since misogyny and racism ranked right up there, along with murder, in Stano’s long list of deplorable qualities.

Writer Kathy Kelly posed the question to Stano: “What made you kill and kill again?”

Ted Bundy had not yet been convicted when
Classifying Criminal Offenders: New System Based On MMPI (SAGE Library of Social Research)
, by Edwin I. Megargee and M. J. Bohn, was published, but he would have received stellar marks on Dr. Megargee’s “Charlie” scale.

Under current Florida prison guidelines in 2009, that hobby is no longer permitted.

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, September 16, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, April 17, 1986

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, October 10, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, September 5, 1985

Gerald Stano to Kathy Kelly, November 3, 1985

It wasn’t until January 2000 that the Florida Legislature passed legislation allowing lethal injection as an alternative method of execution in Florida.