Donald William Dufour: Murder, Robbery, and a Multi-State Killing Spree
Overview
Donald William Dufour was an American murderer whose crimes in Florida and Mississippi during 1982 resulted in multiple homicide cases and two separate death sentences. Born on March 22, 1956, Dufour became associated with at least five homicide victims during a violent period lasting from July through October 1982. His crimes were closely connected to robbery, and several of the men targeted were gay or were encountered in gay social settings.
The strongest documented cases against Dufour involved Edward Wise in Orlando, Florida; Zack Miller in Orlando; and Earl Wayne Peeples in Jackson, Mississippi. John Stinson was killed alongside Wise, and Dufour was charged in connection with Stinson's death, although the precise disposition of that charge is described differently in later Florida legal records. Daniel King was murdered alongside Peeples during the Mississippi robbery; testimony established that Dufour's accomplice Robert Taylor attacked King while Dufour attacked Peeples.
The July 1982 Orlando Double Homicide
The earliest known killings associated with Dufour occurred on July 4, 1982, in Orlando, Florida. Edward Wise, 47, and John Stinson, 44, were killed at Wise's residence on Henry Balch Drive. The two men lived together and were discovered after mail accumulated outside the residence and concern arose that something was wrong.
Investigators found both Wise and Stinson dead inside the home. Accounts of the investigation described the men as having suffered both gunshot and stabbing injuries. The killings later became important to prosecutors investigating Dufour because they preceded another Orlando murder for which he would receive a death sentence.
Dufour was formally prosecuted for the Wise homicide and ultimately entered a no-contest plea to first-degree murder. On March 6, 1986, he received a life sentence for Wise's murder. Florida's capital-case records state that prosecutors agreed to drop the separate murder charge involving Stinson as part of the plea arrangement. A later Florida Supreme Court opinion nevertheless referred to the incident as the "Stinson and Wise murders" and described evidence in the postconviction record as establishing that Dufour committed the double homicide. Because of that difference in the legal record, Stinson is most accurately described as a homicide victim attributed to Dufour rather than as the subject of a separate final murder conviction.
The Murder of Zack Miller
Two months later, Dufour committed the crime that produced his Florida death sentence. On September 4, 1982, Zack Miller was murdered after encountering Dufour in the Orlando area. Testimony from Dufour's former girlfriend, Stacey Sigler, became central to the prosecution.
Sigler testified that Dufour told her that evening that he intended to find a gay man, rob him, and kill him. She dropped Dufour near a bar and waited to hear from him. Approximately an hour later, Dufour contacted her and told her to meet him at his brother's residence. When she arrived, she saw Dufour looking through the trunk of an unfamiliar automobile and wearing jewelry she had not seen before. Investigators later determined that both the car and jewelry belonged to Miller.
According to evidence presented at trial, Dufour met Miller at the bar and accompanied him to an orange grove near Orlando. Miller was robbed and shot twice with a .25-caliber handgun, once in the head and once through the back at close range. His body was subsequently found in the grove.
Several people later testified that Dufour admitted the murder. Robert Taylor, who became Dufour's accomplice in the Mississippi killings, said Dufour told him that he had shot a man in an orange grove and stolen his automobile. Taylor also testified that he obtained some of the stolen jewelry from Dufour and later helped him take apart the .25-caliber pistol used in the killing and dispose of its pieces.
Another associate, Raymond Ryan, testified that Dufour admitted killing the man and possessed the stolen jewelry. When Ryan questioned him about what the jewelry had cost, Dufour made a statement indicating that its price had been another person's life. Ryan also witnessed Dufour and Taylor dismantling the handgun. A jail inmate later testified that Dufour described Miller's murder to him in considerable detail.
Dufour was convicted of first-degree murder in the Zack Miller case on May 31, 1984. The jury unanimously recommended death, and on July 3, 1984, the trial judge imposed a death sentence. The Florida Supreme Court later affirmed both the murder conviction and the sentence.
The Mississippi Double Murder
By October 1982, Dufour and Robert Taylor had traveled from Florida through Georgia and into Jackson, Mississippi. Around midnight on October 13, the men arrived near The Other Side Lounge, a bar in Jackson. According to Taylor's later testimony, Dufour identified two men inside the establishment, Earl Wayne Peeples and Daniel "Danny" King, and told Taylor that the pair would be robbed.
Shortly after 1:00 a.m. on October 14, 1982, Dufour and Taylor accompanied Peeples and King back toward the Windsor Park Apartments on West Capitol Street. A 16-year-old boy who had been with Peeples and King also rode with the group before leaving for his family's apartment. His testimony later helped establish that Dufour and Taylor accompanied the two victims toward Peeples' apartment immediately before the killings.
Once inside the apartment, Taylor went into the kitchen and searched drawers for weapons that could be used during the robbery. He found knives and screwdrivers. Taylor testified that he created a diversion by breaking a mug of water against a wall. When Peeples and King entered the kitchen, Taylor handed Dufour a knife.
The two victims were then attacked almost simultaneously. Taylor testified that Dufour grabbed Earl Peeples and repeatedly stabbed him in the chest with the knife. Taylor attacked Daniel King with a screwdriver. Both victims died from the assault.
According to the testimony, Dufour had demanded to know where Peeples kept his money shortly before the stabbing. Peeples indicated that money was in the trunk of his automobile. After the killings, the pockets of Peeples' clothing had been turned out, and property from the apartment was gathered into a bedspread. Dufour and Taylor then fled in Peeples' automobile.
A short distance from the apartment, the car became stuck after being driven off Dixon Road. Dufour searched the trunk for the money he believed would be there but reportedly found nothing of value. He discarded the bedspread in a ditch and instructed Taylor to return to the apartment complex and obtain King's automobile.
Robert Taylor's Arrest and Dufour's Flight
Taylor never succeeded in returning with King's car. A Jackson police officer noticed him moving along West Capitol Street during the early morning hours, barefoot and wearing little more than pants. Taylor was stopped and taken into custody. Police discovered that he was already wanted in Florida in connection with an armed robbery.
King's relatives became concerned when he could not be located. During the early morning of October 15, police went to the Windsor Park Apartments. King's vehicle was still parked there. The apartment manager opened Peeples' residence, where officers found the bodies of both Peeples and King.
Taylor eventually admitted his participation and implicated Dufour. Dufour, meanwhile, remained in Jackson. After learning that authorities were searching for him, he changed his appearance by having his normally dark hair cut and dyed blond. He found temporary lodging and remained out of sight for roughly two weeks.
On October 29, 1982, Dufour returned to The Other Side Lounge. Roger Harris, a part owner and security guard at the club who had encountered Dufour on the night of the murders, recognized him despite his altered hair. Harris contacted police while keeping Dufour occupied until officers arrived and arrested him.
The Mississippi Conviction
Dufour denied participating in the killings and claimed that he had gone to sleep in a vehicle after leaving the lounge. Prosecutors, however, relied heavily on Taylor's detailed account along with testimony placing the victims, Dufour, and Taylor together immediately before the murders. Physical and circumstantial evidence also supported Taylor's description of what occurred after the killings.
Dufour was tried for the capital murder of Earl Wayne Peeples. The prosecution argued that Peeples had been murdered during the commission of a robbery, making the crime eligible for Mississippi's death penalty. The jury found Dufour guilty and sentenced him to death in 1983. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence in 1984.
Although Daniel King was murdered during the same incident, the evidence at Dufour's Peeples trial identified Robert Taylor as the person who physically attacked King. Dufour nevertheless participated in the planned robbery that resulted in both deaths, and later Florida Supreme Court opinions described him as having been involved in the robberies and murders of both King and Peeples.
Known and Attributed Victims
- Edward Wise, 47 — July 4, 1982 — Henry Balch Drive, Orlando, Florida. Wise was killed in his home along with John Stinson. Dufour later entered a no-contest plea to first-degree murder in Wise's death and received a life sentence.
- John Stinson, 44 — July 4, 1982 — Henry Balch Drive, Orlando, Florida. Stinson was killed during the same double homicide as Edward Wise. Dufour was charged with his murder. Florida capital-case records state that the Stinson charge was dropped as part of Dufour's plea agreement in the Wise case, although later Florida Supreme Court proceedings described Dufour as responsible for the Wise-Stinson double homicide.
- Zack Miller — September 4, 1982 — Orlando, Florida. Miller was robbed and shot in an orange grove with a .25-caliber handgun. Dufour stole his automobile and jewelry. Dufour was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for Miller's killing.
- Daniel "Danny" King, 32 — October 14, 1982 — Windsor Park Apartments, West Capitol Street, Jackson, Mississippi. King was killed during a planned robbery carried out by Dufour and Robert Taylor. Taylor testified that he personally attacked King with a screwdriver while Dufour stabbed Earl Peeples.
- Earl Wayne Peeples, 34 — October 14, 1982 — Windsor Park Apartments, West Capitol Street, Jackson, Mississippi. Dufour repeatedly stabbed Peeples during the robbery and then searched for his money and stole property and Peeples' automobile. Dufour was convicted of Peeples' capital murder and sentenced to death.
A Pattern of Robbery and Murder
The documented cases reveal a distinct pattern. Dufour targeted men whom he believed could be robbed, and homicide was used either as an intended part of the robbery or as a means of eliminating the victim afterward. In the Miller case, testimony indicated that murder was contemplated before Dufour ever met his victim that evening. In Mississippi, Taylor testified that Dufour identified Peeples and King as robbery targets while they were still inside the bar.
The geographical movement between Florida and Mississippi initially separated the investigations. The Miller homicide was still being investigated in Orlando when Dufour became involved in the Jackson killings. Taylor's arrest and statements brought Dufour to the attention of Mississippi investigators, while information about his activities eventually connected him with the Florida cases.
Trials, Sentences, and Legal Proceedings
Dufour ultimately accumulated extremely serious sentences in two states. Mississippi sentenced him to death for the capital murder of Earl Wayne Peeples. Florida separately sentenced him to death for the first-degree murder of Zack Miller. He also received a life sentence after entering his plea in the Edward Wise murder case.
His Florida death sentence generated decades of appeals and postconviction litigation. Dufour challenged numerous aspects of his trial, including testimony from witnesses, evidence concerning his other crimes, his mental-health evaluation, the use of restraints during trial, prosecutorial conduct, and the aggravating circumstances used to justify the death penalty. The Florida Supreme Court repeatedly rejected his principal challenges and upheld the Miller conviction and death sentence.
Legacy of the Case
Donald William Dufour's criminal history is most accurately described as a series of interconnected murders committed during a brief but extraordinarily violent period in 1982. Three murders produced direct convictions or pleas against him: Edward Wise, Zack Miller, and Earl Wayne Peeples. Court records also associate him with the death of John Stinson in the Wise double homicide and with the robbery-murder of Daniel King alongside Peeples.
The cases are particularly notable because evidence from one murder repeatedly became important in another. His Mississippi conviction was introduced during proceedings involving Zack Miller, while the earlier Florida double homicide became an issue during later postconviction hearings. Witnesses who had traveled, associated, or committed crimes with Dufour supplied prosecutors with accounts of his admissions and actions.
By the time the investigations and prosecutions were complete, authorities in Florida and Mississippi had constructed a record showing a progression from the July Orlando double homicide, to Zack Miller's murder in September, and finally to the brutal robbery killings of Earl Peeples and Daniel King in Jackson on October 14, 1982. That sequence, involving multiple victims in two states over roughly three months, placed Donald William Dufour among the American multiple and serial murderers of the early 1980s.
