Erin Belanger was a 22‑year‑old woman of Caucasian ethnicity, originally from Lowell, Massachusetts, and born on July 14, 1982. At the time of her death on August 6, 2004, she was living in Deltona, Florida. She had moved there earlier in 2004 to help care for her grandmother’s winter home and was working at a Burger King in Deltona, having formerly worked as a dietary aide at Fairhaven Nursing Home in Lowell.
On the night of Friday, August 6, 2004, Erin Belanger and her boyfriend, Francisco “Flaco” Ayo‑Roman were among six people brutally murdered in a home on Telford Lane in Deltona—a case that would come to be known as the “Deltona massacre” or the “Xbox murders.” Erin Belanger, as a young white woman of 22, was beaten to death with extreme violence. According to one report, her injuries were so severe that identification by dental records was initially impossible.
During the home invasion, four men—identified later as Troy Victorino, Jerone Hunter, Robert Cannon, and Michael Salas—forced their way into the residence. These four suspects were motivated by revenge against Belanger, who had evicted a squatter from her grandparents’ vacant property, and by the recovery of a video game console and clothing that Victorino had left behind.
As the violent invasion unfolded, Francisco Ayo‑Roman was savagely beaten with an aluminum baseball bat by Victorino. Erin Belanger was similarly beaten and then sexually abused post‑mortem by Victorino. These four assailants continued their rampage through the house, murdering others present—including Anthony Vega Michelle Ann Nathan Tito “Roberto” Gonzalez and Jonathan Gleason —each with brutal force using baseball bats and knives.
The victims worked together at the Burger King in Deltona or had other connections: Erin Belanger, her boyfriend Ayo‑Roman, Anthony Vega, Michelle Ann Nathan, and Tito Gonzalez were co‑workers, while Jonathan Gleason had been staying at the home temporarily.
After the murders, law enforcement arrested the four suspects—Victorino, Hunter, Cannon, and Salas—on charges of first‑degree murder and armed burglary. Two of them, Troy Victorino and Jerone Hunter, ultimately received death sentences. The other two, Michael Salas and Robert Cannon, were each sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Thus, Erin Belanger, a 22-year-old white woman from Lowell, Massachusetts, died in a horrific, premeditated home invasion on August 6, 2004, in Deltona, Florida. The violent deaths of Erin Belanger and five others were driven by a combination of personal vendetta and desire to reclaim valued possessions, culminating in one of the most brutal mass murders in Volusia County history.
