Police suspect Florida murderer with a ‘hatred for women’ is a secret serial killer
Man claims misogyny stemmed from sexual abuse by father and grandfather
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A man in Florida has admitted to being the person behind a 1991 murder of a waitress after meeting her at a bar and garnering a “hatred for women,” authorities have said.
Michael Townson admitted to the murder of Linda Little while serving a life sentence for a 2007 murder of another woman, according to Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young.
Mr Young said that the 53-year-old Townson was indicted by a grand jury on one charge of first-degree murder on Monday for the 1991 killing, NBC News reported.
Townson has also claimed to be guilty of other slayings in Tennessee and Central Florida and he’s entered the category of suspected serial killers, Daytona Beach Police Detective Dave Dinardi told reporters.
He added that while authorities are investigating those deaths, Townson hasn’t been charged as of yet.
Townson confessed to murdering Ms Little in 2020 after claiming to have “found God” and after his transfer to a Volusia County correctional facility, according to Mr Young.
The police chief said that Townson alleged to have been sexually abused when he was a child by his father and grandfather, putting the blame on his mother and other women around him for his lack of protection, NBC News reported.
“As a result, he developed a hatred for women,” Mr Young said of Townson.
Ms Little, from North Carolina, was 43 years old when she disappeared after her waitressing shift at 1am on 11 October 1991, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Ms Little and Townson encountered each other at a hotel bar in Daytona Beach, where Ms Little had lived for two years, according to NBC News.
Mr Dinardi said it was a “random meeting unfortunately on the wrong day at the wrong time”.
“It appears Linda just met the wrong person,” he added.
“They were enjoying a few drinks,” Mr Dinardi said. “Something happened that in his words caused him to snap.”
He noted that Ms LIttle’s remains haven’t been located. While no further details were shared, Mr Dinardi said that Townson had shared an account of events that made authorities believe the confession was real.
The investigator said that at the time of the killing in 1991, Townson lived in Orlando but would visit the beach, NBC News reported.
Ms Little’s sister Wanda Henson spoke at the press briefing, saying Townson’s confession gave her a sense of closure.
“I know this is crazy,” Ms Henson said. “I really want to thank Townson for letting the family know what happened.”
“I’ve forgiven him,” she added.
Townson also admitted to another killing, in which he bludgeoned childhood friend Sherri Carman to death on 16 January 2007 while she was on a sofa in his living room, according to court records.
A transcript from Townson’s plea and sentencing hearing revealed that he beat her with a heavy metal pipe and a hammer, the outlet noted.
He said that he had become irate after she told her she had AIDS after they had sex. The transcript said that an autopsy showed she didn’t have the condition.
The plea agreement states that Townson pled guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to a lifetime in prison with no possibility of parole, according to NBC News.