WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The day construction crews found Rachel Bey's body on the side of Beeline Highway, the timeline started for detectives to find a suspect which eventually led them to 37-year-old Robert Hayes.
"He'd seen somebody on the side of the road, so I went down there and checked it out, you can definitely tell she was dead," said Tommy Cannon, remembering when his co-worker came across Bey's body in the stretch of Beeline where they were working.
Detectives say DNA links Hayes to the 2016 murder. Now they say he's connected to at least three other murders in Daytona Beach between 2005 and 2006. But, where was he during the 10 year gap in between the alleged murders? Court records start the timeline at 2006.
Hayes was charged with a misdemeanor in Palm Beach County which was later dropped. In 2007, records show he had a child in Palm Beach County. He filed paternity paperwork with the courts in 2008 in which he reported living in Riviera Beach.
His paternity case documents show he was working in Charlotte, North Carolina by 2009. An employee at St. Peter's Homes confirms he was a case manager for the non-profit that helps house homeless families. in 2012, where Hayes was living isn't clear. However, he showed proof of changing careers to becoming a chef in the restaurant industry.
By December 2014, a traffic citation proves he was back in Palm Beach County. In March 2016, PBSO detectives say Bey was found dead with Hayes's DNA on her. Investigators believe Hayes was living in West Palm Beach. In 2017, Hayes received another traffic ticket in Palm Beach County.
Court records show his most recent employment was in 2018 at Howley's Restaurant in West Palm Beach. The restaurant manager did not want to comment.
We have reached out to Hayes's immediate family, but no one has commented on his arrest.
