Suspected serial killer who hates women confesses to 1991 slaying of waitress

A suspected serial killer who is currently serving a life sentence for a brutal Florida murder, has confessed to killing of a waitress in 1991 after developing a “hatred for women.” Michael Townson, 53, was indicted by a grand jury Monday, October 24, for first-degree murder in the death of Linda Little, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said Tuesday, October 25, according to NBC News. Townson, who has been behind bars since 2007 in a separate case, has also confessed to other killings in central Florida and Tennessee, police said. 

Townson’s alleged crimes are now being investigated, and he has not been charged in those cases yet, Detective Dave Dinardi, with the Dayton Beach PD, told reporters. Townson told detectives he was sexually abused as a child by his father and grandfather, and blamed his mother and other women in his life for failing to protect him. “As a result, he developed a hatred for women,” Young said. Little, 43, was working as a waitress in Daytona Beach when she disappeared after finishing her shift at the Chart House Restaurant on the morning of Oct. 11, 1991. Police said Townson met Little at a hotel bar in a “random meeting on the wrong day at the wrong time” and with “the wrong person.” The detective said after the couple had a few drinks, “something happened that in Townson’s words caused him to snap.” Little’s body was never found, but detective Dinardi said Townson provided details that convinced investigators his confession was genuine. 

 Little’s sister, Wanda Henson, who attended the Tuesday news conference, thanked Townson for his confession and said she’s forgiven him. “I know this is crazy,” she said. “I really want to thank Townson for letting the family know what happened. I’ve been praying for closure, and God works in mysterious ways.” 

More than 15 years after Little’s murder, on Jan 16, 2007, Townson fatally bludgeoned his childhood friend, Sherri Carman, with a steel pipe and hammer at her Titusville home. Townson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in that case and in 2008 was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Townson came clean about Little’s murder in 2020 after he “found God” behind bars and was transferred to a prison in Volusia County, where the murder took place, Young said.