DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A 17-year-old murder-mystery has finally been solved. A woman was murdered in Daytona Beach in 1993 and police could not find out who killed her. However, an inmate in Louisiana decided to come clean.
Christine Lazzaro, 20, and three friends arrived in Daytona Beach from upstate New York in April 1993 ready for a week of spring break excitement. The vacation ended for Lazzaro when she left Razzles nightclub on the night of April 10. Her body was discovered the next morning, on Easter Sunday, in a wooded area of DeBary.
The murder remained unsolved for 17 years.
"You always think about it and wondering about it in the back of your head," said investigator Larry Horzepa, Volusia County Sheriff's Office.
Horzepa and his fellow deputies had little to go on until Romalis Gordon, a 38-year-old convicted killer serving two life sentences, had a religious conversion. Investigators said he confessed to killing Lazarro shortly after meeting her at Razzles nightclub.
WFTV reached Lazzaro's father, Frank, via telephone Wednesday.
"I'm right in between euphoria and depression," Lazarro said.
But, at least the family has been given an explanation.
"He said he struck up a conversation with her and said he was a music producer," Horzepa said.
Gordon claims he and Lazzaro ate, went shopping, and then went back to his hotel room and had sex. Gordon, who was wanted for armed robbery in Louisiana at the time, went into a bathroom to do some cocaine. He walked out to find Lazarro going through a pouch containing several fake IDs.
"He said, at that point, he thought all he could do is kill Ms. Lazarro," Horzepa said.
Investigators said Gordon pulled over on Dirksen Drive in DeBary and let Lazarro out. He followed her over to a wooded area and shot her.
Gordon still hasn't been charged. The State Attorney's Office is currently reviewing the case. Investigators told WFTV Christine Lazzaro's case will likely be reviewed by the State Attorney's Office next month.
"To know there's closure now, that's the good news," Frank Lazzaro said.
In 2007, Gordon pleaded guilty to killing two other women during a robbery at a truck stop casino.