Naman Shrestha
In 1995 and 1996, the neighborhood of Allapattah in Miami, Florida, became a site for four different murders — Vida Hicks, Diane Nelms, Cheryl Ray, and Janice Cox. At the time, the entire community was concerned for their safety while the detectives searched for a serial killer on the loose. A survivor soon contacted the police and helped them apprehend the perpetrator — Francisco del Junco. All the intricate details of the murders and the investigation that ensued are explored in the fourth episode of Oxygen’s ‘Unknown Serial Killers of America: The Cross-Country Killer’ season 2.
Francisco del Junco’s Survivor Helped the Police Apprehend Him
Born on August 3, 1957, in Cuba, in a family with a history of mental disorders, Francisco del Junco grew up in an unstable environment. From a young age, he reportedly took medication for epilepsy. Rejected by his peers and father, he was seemingly loved by his mother, who regularly took him to the beach. In his teenage years, he claimed that he started distancing himself from people, believing that they were out to kill him. According to him, he also heard voices in his head and witnessed priestesses performing black magic. In search of a better future, he moved to Miami during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, along with a few of his relatives. Francisco worked all kinds of jobs to get by and support his psychiatrist visits.
As his mental health worsened, he was also reportedly admitted to the Miami Mental Health Clinic a few times, in 1987, 1988, and 1992. Around those years, Francisco had multiple run-ins with the law as he was apprehended for burglary, theft, loitering, and assaulting a police officer. During the months he was employed as a dishwasher at Dan Marino’s American Sports Bar and Grill in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood, he killed four sex workers — 43-year-old Vida Hicks, 44-year-old Diane Nelms, 37-year-old Cheryl Ray, and 37-year-old Janice Cox — between August 1995 and March 1996. Francisco reportedly lured each of them with the promise of sex and free drugs, after which he beat them to death with metal pipes and burned their remains with gasoline in the Allapattah neighborhood.
Ten months after the first murder, while a special task force was in the middle of the investigation, they received a tip from a survivor who managed to escape Francisco’s attack after she claimed to have refused to go on a date with him. Thanks to the description she provided, the detectives tracked the serial killer down and took him into custody on June 3, 1996. Not only was he in possession of gasoline and wooden matches, but his combat boots also matched the footprints found at the crime scenes. Instead of confronting him with the evidence against him, the detectives talked to him and tried to befriend him. Initially, he denied any involvement in the murders. After several hours of questioning, they took him to the beach along Key Biscayne, where he confessed to his crimes, providing details that only the killer would know. Francisco also took the authorities to each murder scene and enacted the killings.
Francisco del Junco is Currently Incarcerated at a Florida Prison
Several years later, in 2003, Francisco del Junco stood trial for the murders of Vida Hicks, Diane Nelms, Cheryl Ray, and Janice Cox. During the trial, he and his defense counsel claimed that the vision of a black Santeria priestess instructed him to carry out the killings and burn the women’s remains. At the end of the trial, in late May 2003, the jury found him guilty on four counts of first-degree murder. About a week later, on June 4, 2003, his sentencing hearing took place. Although Francisco didn’t speak during the hearing, a letter from Jeanine Hicks, the daughter of Vida Hicks, was read aloud by the prosecution.
Honoring her mother’s memory, Jeanine reflected on the stigma and the harsh judgment her mother faced because of her profession as a sex worker and her battle with cocaine addiction. The statement read, “Yes, she was fighting an addiction and other demons, but her problems never made me stop loving her.” The judge ruled Francisco del Junco ineligible for the death sentence due to his reported mental illness. Instead, he was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. As of today, the 69-year-old is serving his sentence at the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach, Florida.
You must be logged in to post a comment.