Linwood Earl Forte

Serial Killer

Linwood Earl Forte: The Goldsboro "Nightstalker" Murders

Linwood Earl Forte, born July 25, 1964, is an American serial killer and rapist convicted of a series of violent home invasions in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The crimes for which he was convicted occurred during 1990 and involved elderly residents attacked inside their own homes. Three people were murdered, another woman survived a near-fatal assault, and investigators later connected Forte to a separate 1994 murder. The Goldsboro cases were sometimes referred to as the "Nightstalker" crimes, although this nickname should not be confused with the better-known nickname associated with California serial killer Richard Ramirez.

The First Attack: Eliza Jones

The first crime in the series occurred during the early morning hours of May 26, 1990, in Goldsboro. Seventy-year-old Eliza Jones was attacked while she was in bed. She was strangled until she lost consciousness and was sexually assaulted. When Jones was discovered, she was bruised and scratched and was struggling to breathe because of oxygen deprivation. She survived the attack. At the time, investigators had no identified suspect. Biological evidence recovered from Jones and her bed was preserved by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. That decision became critically important more than a decade later, because DNA testing eventually demonstrated that the biological material from the Jones attack was connected to evidence recovered from later crime scenes.

The Murder of Hattie Davis Bonner

Less than two months later, another elderly Goldsboro woman was attacked. On the morning of July 14, 1990, police found 79-year-old Hattie Davis Bonner dead in her bed. An autopsy established that Bonner had been manually strangled and suffocated with a pillow. Investigators also recovered biological evidence indicating that she had been sexually assaulted. The similarities to the Jones attack were disturbing. Both women were elderly, both had been attacked in their homes and beds, strangulation was involved, and biological evidence from the two scenes was consistent with the same unidentified offender. Investigators preserved the physical evidence, but without a suspect against whom to compare it, the case remained unsolved. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

Hattie Davis Bonner Age: (79), Date of Death: 1990-07-14

Survivors:

Eliza Jones Age: (70), Date of Attack: 1990-05-26

Episode 75: The NC Nightstalker - Linwood Earl Forte - Spreaker