Cops: Couple on Killing Spree Choosing Victims at Random

Pair accused of murders in Florida, Alabama
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 7, 2017 7:42 AM CST
'Running Nightmare': Cops Say Couple on Killing Spree
A "wanted" poster for Boyette and Rice.   (Escambia County Sheriff's Office)

Florida is facing a "running nightmare" with two people on a killing spree that has so far left three women dead and another in critical condition. William "Billy" Boyette and Mary Craig Rice are wanted in the Jan. 31 murders of 30-year-old Alicia Greer—who was in a relationship with Boyette—and 39-year-old Jacqueline Jeanette Moore at a hotel in Milton. Police believe the suspects then drove to Lillian, Ala., killed 52-year-old Peggy Broz in her front yard, and fled with her vehicle on Friday. In the latest incident, the pair are accused of shooting 28-year-old Kayla Crocker and stealing her vehicle in Pensacola on Monday. Crocker was taken to a hospital in critical condition but is expected to survive, reports the Pensacola News Journal.

Authorities say Boyette, 44, and Rice, 38, have managed to elude capture by staying "very mobile." They're believed to have camped in wooded areas; two photos circulated by police show the pair walking in woods with supplies and an apparent handgun, reports WKRG. "What we are experiencing is a running nightmare, quite honestly," a police rep says, noting all victims apart from Greer appear to have been selected at random. Another adds Boyette—accused of stabbing and strangling a girlfriend in 2015—has told "many, many people that he will not be taken alive." Authorities "take those threats and those admonitions very seriously," the rep says. Police say the couple are armed and dangerous and should not be approached. (More Florida stories.)

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