Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another week of Unsolved, a list of the most interesting unsolved serial killing cases in each state. This week we will look into Florida’s cases, the Flat-Tire Murders from the 1970’s.

In Dade County, Florida from around February to July of 1975, at least five women were killed in what is theorized to be a string of connected murders. The first two, victims were Ronnie Gorlin, a 27-year-old woman, and Elyse Napp, a 21-year-old woman. Both of them were killed in July and were almost immediately expected to have been killed by the same person given the unique circumstances behind their deaths and because  they were found in the same canal in very similar conditions.

The killer would deflate the victims’ tires in a parking lot and act as though he just happened upon them and decided to offer his help. This would allow him to get the women alone and then kill them. Three other victims are most likely involved in this same case, but some investigators believe that there could be as many as 30 victims if the killer was mobile. Barbara Stephens was one victim who was not killed using the flat tire method, which made it difficult to see the connection to the rest of the victims. She was killed in her home, in fact, so she was not lured anywhere like the other victims.

One investigator from California, Erwin Carlstedt, was the one who pushed the theory that the killer was not strictly active in Florida alone, but traveled across the country to avoid detection. This is not widely supported anymore because people believe that he was referencing Ted Bundy, who did not admit to killing anyone in the Dade county area. Very little else is known about the killer, and there is not even much information available regarding whether or not the police noted any major suspects. They do believe, though, that he is very intelligent and physically strong.

There does not seem to be any newer information on this case or any task force that is investigating it specifically, so this one may never be solved. If Carlstedt is right, though, there may be other departments looking into it unknowingly, all looking for the same killer.

7 thoughts on “Florida: The Flat-Tire Murders

  1. Everyone who writes about these cases fails to mention if there is DNA evidence? No need to turn in my perp who is 79 years old and 99.9% surly committed these crimes if they can’t catch him without his DNA at the scene.

    • Look Here https://sites.psu.edu/gillianpassionblog/2020/10/09/washington-tube-sock-killings/

      Now you may want to consider looking at this case And just thinking of the parallels that could be happening between all cases throughout the United States of America right down to a Baton Rouge FL because I think Baton Rouge FL is also a High level marketplace for this type of activity to happen But you go to the tube soft murders and you look what’s going on right there And I’ll tell you what Because I’ll help you up Look for things So you can connect the dots I’m very sincere please my family’s been held hostage I know scum when I see it RCW18C kidnapping

  2. I lived in Hollywood, FL from Sept. 73 till Nov. 76. I may have encountered the same guy in a parking lot in Hallandale, FL one evening as I was riding my bike home from work. Same MO-tried to pick me up in a parking lot, asked if I was having trouble with my bike, and wanted to go to a bar in the Everglades for a drink. I waited inside the store till I saw he had left. What I remember most was his pock-marked face, dark hair and eyes, and he had straight hair sort of slicked back. He was wearing a suit jacket, and drove an older big car. I was in my early thirties then, and he looked to be about the same. I had often wondered if they ever caught the guy, and then I saw a book had been written. Amazing, too, that they didn’t take DNA samples.

    • Have you looked at the pictures of Lawrence Kane? Look him up and see if that was the guy.

  3. https://sites.psu.edu/gillianpassionblog/2020/10/09/washington-tube-sock-killings/

    Now you may want to consider looking at this case And just thinking of the parallels that could be happening between all cases throughout the United States of America right down to a Baton Rouge FL because I think Baton Rouge FL is also a High level marketplace for this type of activity to happen But you go to the tube soft murders and you look what’s going on right there And I’ll tell you what Because I’ll help you up Look for things So you can connect the dots I’m very sincere please Please rate my family’s been held hostage I know scum when I see it RCW18C kidnapping

  4. I was stalked and bitten by Bundy on Hollywood fla beach. I had a hard time excaping. My Mother did not want me to report it to the police. Im 75 now. It was definitly Bundy. Im married 45 years now to Miami police officer. A good friend in the dept said yes we know it was Bundy killing girls because of a survisors sketch looked just like him and bites. We just did not have dna science yet back then. Before he was executed he mentioned the girl on the beach that got away

  5. There’s finally a good suspect for these crimes: Robert Clark Keebler. Keebler’s DNA has conclusively linked him to the June 20th 1975 murders of 14 year olds Barbara Schreiber and Darlene Zetterower. The girls were hitchiking in Hollywood Florida when they were suspected to have been picked up by Keebler, who later shot and killed them. Their bodies were discoverd in the Everglades, just off of Route 27. They were found just down the road from where Nancy Fox was discovered a week earlier and where Robin Losch would be found a few weeks later in July. At least two other victims, would be also be found in July, also just off Route 27, but further south in Dade County. The timing and locations make Keebler a strong contender for the other murders. Investigators are still trying to definitively tie Keebler to other crimes but he has a sordid background: Sexual assaults, armed robbery and kidnapping in Florida and California in the 1970s and 1980s. He died in 2019.

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