A Woman Turned in Her Neighbour, Turned Out He was a Serial Killer
Joan Rogers and her two daughters were murdered while on vacation in Florida. The key piece of evidence in their cold case was a handwritten direction.
On May 26, 1989, Joan Rogers decided to take her two teenage daughters on a little vacation. Joan, thirty-six, Michelle, seventeen, and Christe, 14, left their dairy farm in Willshire, Ohio, favouring Florida’s sun and warmth. This was the first time Joan had made such a long drive, leaving her home state familiarity in the rearview mirror.
The women took their time, stopping at several tourist destinations such as the Jacksonville Zoo, the Kennedy Space Center, and of course, Disney World.
They had meant to begin the drive back home on June 1, but Joan got lost and decided to tack on an extra day on to the vacation instead of trying to make the drive at night. They stopped at a hotel in Tampa, Florida, checking in at 12:30 pm.
They settled into the hotel room, and witnesses saw them at the hotel’s restaurant at 7:30 pm. After dinner, the women loaded into the family car and left the hotel property.
