Donald William Dufour

Serial Killer

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. ...

Confirmed Victims: (5)

Edward Wise Age: (47), Date of Death: 1982-07-15

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