In the spring of 1992, 16-year-old Cherish Fountain DeSantis and her best friend, Megan Carr, also 16, were looking forward to their spring break. The two inseparable friends from Thomasville, Georgia, decided to take a day trip to the serene and secluded Bald Point beach on Alligator Point in Florida, about 75 miles south of their hometown. What started as a carefree day of sunbathing on the quiet shores of the Gulf of Mexico ended in a shocking and tragic event that would deeply scar their community.
On March 27, 1992, the two teenagers were discovered lying on their beach towels by a vacationing police officer and his wife. The couple initially passed them by, not wanting to disturb them. However, on their return walk, they noticed the girls hadn't moved and upon closer inspection, a horrific scene was revealed. Both Cherish and Megan had been shot in the head multiple times at close range with a. 38-caliber weapon. There were no signs of a struggle, and they had not been sexually assaulted or robbed, leaving investigators with a perplexing and seemingly motiveless crime.
The investigation into the double homicide baffled law enforcement in both Florida and Georgia for a period of time. The seemingly random and senseless nature of the killings left the girls' families and the town of Thomasville in a state of shock and grief. A major break in the case came when Robert Neal Rodriguez, a former police officer, was found deceased in his vehicle at a rest stop in New Mexico. He had taken his own life by ingesting cyanide.
Alongside his body, investigators discovered a detailed suicide note in which Rodriguez confessed to the murders of Cherish DeSantis and Megan Carr. In his confession, he described the events of that day and provided details about the crime that only the killer would know. The note also included a confession to another, older murder of a woman in Wakulla County. With the killer's confession and subsequent suicide, the case of the tragic death of Cherish Fountain DeSantis and Megan Carr was officially closed.
