Janet Movich, a 38-year-old white woman, was murdered on April 14, 1985, in Daytona, Florida. Her nude body was discovered in a wooded area, and she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. At the time of her death, Movich was homeless and originally from Pennsylvania. The case remained unsolved for over a decade.
In 1991, serial killer Donald Leroy Evans was arrested for the rape and murder of 10-year-old Beatrice Louise Routh in Mississippi.
Following his arrest, Evans confessed to numerous other murders across the United States, including that of Janet Movich. Investigators were able to corroborate his confession to Movich's murder through his detailed knowledge of the crime scene, which had not been publicly disclosed. Despite this, Evans was never formally charged with Movich's murder, as he was already serving a death sentence for other crimes.
Evans's confessions linked him to multiple murders, but he was conclusively tied to only three victims: Ira Jean Smith , Janet Movich , and Beatrice Louise Routh . Evans was sentenced to death in Mississippi in 1993 and received an additional life sentence in Florida in 1995. He was killed in prison in 1999 by a fellow inmate.
