Indian River County, Florida, US. On July 26, 1983, David Alan Gore and his cousin, Fred Waterfield, were driving toward Wabasso Beach, Florida, when they spotted two teenage girls hitchhiking. 17-year-old Lynn Elliott and 14-year-old Regan Martin were trying to get a ride from their hometown of Vero Beach to Wabasso Beach. The cousins pulled up and offered to take the girls out to the sand dunes to show them how the truck performed.
They offered the girls a beer and then asked them if they wanted to smoke pot. Gore said to Waterfield, “Let’s take these two home and have fun with them.” Lynn started screaming and Regan was crying. Waterfield was “playing” the good guy and told the two frightened girls to “just do what he says.” Gore told them, “Shut up or I’ll kill you.” He ordered them to put their heads between their legs and their arms behind them. He handcuffed them together. They ultimately took them to Gore’s parents’ home, where they bound the girls and placed them in separate bedrooms. Waterford left the scene after the teens were restrained.
Fig.1 Gore had jammed the girl’s body into the trunk to hide her.
Fig.2 This was Gore’s signature. He wanted to keep his victims helpless during the sexual assaults.
According to the Florida Supreme Court, Gore went back and forth between the bedrooms, raping both of the teens and threatening their lives. Although her hands were still restrained and she was nude, Lynn managed to escape the bedroom she was being held in and made it out the front door while Gore was in the other room with Regan. When Gore realized Lynn had escaped, he ran outside and managed to catch the teen in the driveway. Gore grabbed Lynn and dragged her kicking and screaming back toward the house. However, as she continued to struggle, he threw her to the ground and shot her in the head.
Fig.3 The offender had sadistically cut the girl’s bathing suits from their bound bodies.
The disturbing scene was witnessed by a neighbor boy, who immediately contacted authorities. Gore ran back to the house and got the keys to his mom’s car and drove down to get Lynn’s body. He opened the trunk, picked up her body, and tossed her into the trunk. Gore raced the car back to the carport and ran inside to see if the witness called the police. He listened to a police scanner and then called to report that a man with a gun had run through his yard. Indian River deputies were dispatched to the Gore residence as a result of the witness’s report.
When Gore also called to make his report, deputies in the area who knew his reputation suspected the worse. They had surrounded the house and spotted a car in the garage and saw a pool of blood. Lynn’s dead body was discovered in the trunk. She had been shot twice in the head with Gore’s .22-caliber pistol, which was recovered in the house.
Fig.4 Bindings found in Gore’s car.
Fig.5 Bloodstains in the trunk of the car.
David Alan Gore and Freddie Waterfield, Jr., were arrested by Indian River sheriff’s officers and subsequently charged with rape, murder, and abduction of the six murder victims and the attempted murder and abduction of the 14 year old, who was rescued by the police. The trials lasted several years as Gore and Waterfield manipulated the courts with their changing stories of what actually happened and how many were actually killed.
Fig.6 David Alan Gore.
Fig.7 David Alan Gore was arrested by Indian River sheriff’s officers.
Fig.8 Freddie Waterfield, Jr. was arrested by Indian River sheriff’s officers.
When questioned by authorities, David Gore confessed that he and his cousin abducted and ultimately killed five other women and teens. Gore initially signed a plea agreement — which stated he would plead guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and testify against his cousin Fred Waterfield. In exchange, he would be sentenced to life in prison as opposed to the death penalty. However, as Gore was determined to be an unreliable witness, he was not called to testify against Waterfield, and the plea agreement was ultimately revoked. Although Gore attempted to make another plea agreement with prosecutors, he was ultimately convicted on six counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
Fig.9 Lynn Carol Elliott was only 17-years-old.
Fig.10 Lynn is missed by her family and friends.
Gore’s and Waterfield’s first two murder victims were Ying Hua Ling (age 17) and her mother Hsiang Huang Ling (age 48). On February 19, 1981, Gore accosted Ying Ling and brandished his auxiliary police badge to lure the teenager into his truck, after which he drove her to her own home. Once there, he encountered Hsiang Ling and kidnapped both women. Gore later claimed that the mother, tied to a tree, slowly choked to death while he and Waterfield raped the daughter. The pair dismembered the two women and stuffed their body parts into oil drums, which they buried.
The pair’s third victim was Judith Daley (age 35), a former Fort Pierce resident visiting from California. On July 15, 1981, Gore disabled Daley’s car at the beach, and then offered her a ride to the nearest telephone. Gore drove Daley to a secluded area and met Waterfield, whereupon both men raped Daley. Gore claimed to have disposed of Daley’s body in a swamp.
On May 20, 1983, Gore and Waterfield encountered Orlando hitchhikers Angelica LaVallee and Barbara Ann Byer (both age 14) and picked them up. Gore and Waterfield raped, killed and dismembered both girls. These are the only two crimes for which Waterfield was convicted; he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for the two murders.
Fig.11 The killing cousins killed 6 people.
Gore spent 28 years on death row before he died by lethal injection at 6:19 p.m. on April 12, 2012. Waterfield ultimately was sentenced to two life imprisonments. As Gore lay strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, he said: “I’m sorry. I’ve had remorse … I’m not the man I was back then. I don’t fear death.”
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