In the winter of 1984, the community of Williamsburg, Virginia, was shaken by a brutal crime that cut short the life of a long-time resident. Clara Louise Paulett, a 72-year-old female, was discovered shot in the head on January 30th at the Raleigh Motel on Richmond Road, where she worked as the manager. Her body was found in the motel office alongside her housekeeper, 43-year-old Chestine Brooks, in what investigators described as an execution-style double homicide. The cash register was empty, and the women's purses had been gone through, pointing to robbery as the motive for the shocking violence that occurred in the middle of a workday.
The investigation into the murders of Paulett and Brooks quickly became part of a larger, more terrifying picture. Ballistics evidence linked the gun used at the motel to other recent shootings in the Peninsula area. A week prior, a Hampton beautician named Joyce Baldwin had been murdered. Just hours after the discovery at the Raleigh Motel, a 17-year-old ice cream shop clerk, Vicki Ripple, was killed in Newport News. A multi-jurisdictional task force, including the FBI, was formed as fear grew that a serial killer was targeting women during daylight robberies.
Within days, law enforcement identified a suspect: 27-year-old Syvasky Lafayette Poyner, a parolee with a history of car theft. His arrest came after he was reported selling candy bars that had been stolen from his final victim. During his interrogation, Poyner confessed to a total of five murders, including those of Clara Louise Paulett and Chestine Brooks. He admitted to targeting women because he believed they were 'easier' victims and killed them to eliminate any witnesses to his crimes.
Syvasky Poyner faced separate capital murder trials for his killing spree. In a Williamsburg courtroom on June 6, 1984, a jury found him guilty of the murders of Clara Louise Paulett and Chestine Brooks. Citing the continuing threat of violence he posed to society, the jury recommended the death penalty. Poyner also received death sentences for the other three murders he committed. After nearly a decade of appeals, his sentence was carried out, and he was executed on March 18, 1993. In a final statement, he offered an apology to the families of his victims.
