Who is Michael Townson? Suspected serial killer who 'hates women' admits to murdering waitress in 1991
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA: Michael Townson, who is already serving a life sentence for a gruesome Florida murder, is now suspected to be a serial killer after he confessed to a cold-case killing of a waitress from 1991. Townson confessed he committed the crime out of a "hatred for women," according to officials.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young revealed on Tuesday, October 25, that Townson, 53, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Linda Little after being prosecuted by a grand jury on Monday, October 24, according to NBC News. Police claim that Townson, who has been imprisoned since 2007 for a different murder, has also confessed to killings in Tennessee and central Florida.
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Townson has not yet been charged in connection with these alleged crimes, according to Detective Dave Dinardi of the Daytona Beach Police Department. He admitted to detectives that his father and grandparents molested him as a child, and blamed his mother and other female figures for not doing anything to protect him. "As a result, he developed a hatred for women," Young stated.
Michael Townson, already serving life in prison for murder in Florida, now indicted in death of #DaytonaBeach woman. Linda Little disappeared in 1991. Her body has not been found… but @DaytonaBchPD & @SAO7FL made a case. We expect additional details Tuesday. https://t.co/DwyAcc1brp pic.twitter.com/2Gt95X2D1z
— claire metz (@clairemetzwesh) October 24, 2022
On the morning of October 11, 1991, Little, 43, had just finished her shift at the Chart House Restaurant in Daytona Beach when she disappeared. Police reported that Townson and Little met at a hotel bar. Dinardi described it as a "random meeting unfortunately on the wrong day at the wrong time" and with "the wrong person."
Following a few beers, "something happened that in (Townson's) words caused him to snap," the detective claimed. Little's body was never discovered, but according to Dinardi, Townson gave information that assured detectives that his confession was sincere.
A grand jury indicted Michael Townson in the murder of Linda Little. She’d been missing since Oct 1991. Police say Townson confessed to the murder when he was transfer to Tomoka Correctional in 2020. Townson is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of another woman pic.twitter.com/MWyBUjowMO
— Mike Springer WFTV (@mspringerwftv) October 25, 2022
Wanda Henson, Little's sister, thanked Townson for his confession and said she had forgiven him during the news conference on Tuesday, October 25. She stated, "I know this is crazy. 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."
On January 16, 2007, more than 15 years after Little's murder, Townson fatally bashed his childhood friend Sherri Carman at her Titusville home with a steel pipe and a hammer. Townson claimed that after having sex with him, the woman informed him that she had AIDS, which caused him to lose his temper.
However, an autopsy later revealed that Carmen did not have the virus, according to court documents. Townson came clean about Little's killing in 2020, after being relocated to a prison in the same county as the murder — Volusia County — and having "found God" there, according to Young.