Theresa Ann Green was a 38-year-old mother and a dedicated hospital secretary in the labor and delivery department, living and working in Orlando, Florida. Her life was a source of love and support for her family, especially her teenage son. That life was stolen on May 26, 2002, in an act of senseless violence that would leave a family shattered and a community in search of answers for nearly two decades.
On that Sunday in May, Theresa attended a party at the College Park apartment
building where she lived with her son. Also at the party was a new neighbor, a man she knew as Michael Berry. Witnesses later recalled seeing Theresa and the man leave the party together. At one point, they reportedly fell down a flight of stairs before getting up and entering Theresa's apartment. It was the last time she was seen alive. When Theresa failed to show up for work and couldn't be reached, she was reported missing. The search ended in the parking lot of a Walgreens, where police discovered her car. Inside the trunk, they found Theresa’s body; an autopsy would later confirm she had been manually strangled.
The investigation into her death quickly focused on her neighbor, "Michael Berry." However, he had vanished. Police soon discovered that his real name was Demorris Andy Hunter, a man with a violent past. In fact, at the time he met Theresa, Hunter was a fugitive. Just two months earlier, in March 2002, he had murdered 41-year-old Ivora Huntley in Oakland, California. He fled across the country to Florida, adopting an alias to begin a new life while hiding from his crime. His friendly demeanor and constant laughter masked the danger he posed, allowing him to blend into a new community and get close to his unsuspecting neighbors.
Hunter was eventually apprehended in Houston, Texas, after his case was featured on "America's Most Wanted." He was extradited to California to face justice for Ivora Huntley's murder. In 2005, he was convicted and sentenced to 110 years to life in prison. While he was incarcerated in California, investigators in Florida continued to build their case against him for Theresa Green's murder. It wasn't until 2015, a decade after his California conviction, that Hunter was extradited to Florida to finally be charged with the crime he committed in Orlando.
The legal process was slow, but in April 2026, more than two decades after Theresa's death, Demorris Andy Hunter was found guilty of first-degree murder. The jury unanimously recommended the death penalty, a sentence the judge formally imposed in August 2026. During sentencing, the judge told Hunter, "you have not only forfeited your right to dwell among us as a free man, but by your actions and under the law of the State of Florida, you have forfeited your right to live, as well." State Attorney Bill Gladson supported the sentence, stating there was "no other punishment fitting for this defendant who ruthlessly took the life of Theresa Green."
Hunter was a serial killer, responsible for at least three murders between 1985 and 2002, using methods of both shooting and strangulation. His first known murder was in 1985 in California, for which he was imprisoned but later paroled in 1997, leaving him free to kill again. For his numerous crimes, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of first-degree murder, resulting in sentences of life imprisonment and, ultimately, death.
The decades waiting for justice were agonizing for Theresa's family. Her son, who was only 13 years old when his mother was killed, provided a heartbreaking victim impact statement that spoke to the profound and enduring loss. "I was robbed of my mother's presence, her support, and her irreplaceable love," he wrote. "Every milestone I have reached since then has been bittersweet, marked by the hollowed space where she should have been standing.” His words serve as a powerful testament to the woman he lost and the permanent void left by a killer's brutal actions.
