Rory Enrique Conde

Rory Enrique Conde
2012 mugshot
Born	Rory Enrique Conde (1965-06-14) June 14, 1965 (age 59) Barranquilla, Colombia
Other names	The Tamiami Trail Strangler
Conviction(s)	Murder
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	6
Span of crimes	September 17, 1994 – January 12, 1995
Country	United States
State(s)	Florida
Date apprehended	June 19, 1995

Rory Enrique Conde (born June 14, 1965),^[1] a.k.a. "The Tamiami Trail Strangler", is a Colombian-born serial killer who killed six people in Florida, U.S. over a span of 5 months from September 1994 to January 1995. He was sentenced to death on March 7, 2000, and has been on the Florida death row since.

Personal life

Rory Conde was born on June 14, 1965, in Barranquilla, Colombia. His mother died of tetanus when he was six months old. Conde and his sister Nelly were then raised by their paternal grandmother. When Conde was twelve, they moved to Miami to live with Conde's father, Gustavo Conde. Conde did not like his father and thought he was emotionally abusive. Conde's future wife, Carla Conde, thought that Rory's outbursts were a result of sexual abuse at the hands of his father.

Rory and Carla were married in 1987, when he was 21 and she was 15, eventually having two children. Rory was an abusive husband and had a stint in jail in 1992 as a result of a fight with Carla over Rory bringing girls over. They later moved to a condo off the Tamiami Trail.

They stopped having sex and Rory would disappear at night. In July 1994 Carla moved out to her parents' house with their two children. Rory threatened to kill her if she dated anyone else.

Murders

On September 17, 1994, Conde killed cross-dressing male sex worker Lazaro Comesana. He later said that he killed Lazaro after finding out he was a man during sex.

Conde then killed two more sex workers, Elisa Martinez on October 8 and Charity Nava on November 20. On the back and buttocks of Charity he wrote "THIRD! (A happy face dotting the 'i') I will call Dwight Chan 10. (A reference to WPLG anchor Dwight Lauderdale) [See] if you can catch me. (Using two eyes instead of the word 'See')".^{[2][unreliable source?]}

Conde then killed three more women: Wanda Crawford on November 25, Necole Schneider on December 17, and Rhonda Dunn on January 12, 1995.

He strangled his victims to death and sodomized their corpses.

Aftermath

Conde was arrested on June 19, 1995, when victim Gloria Maestre, who Conde had bound head to toe, made enough noise to alert neighbors while Conde was in court for a shoplifting charge.

He was sentenced to death on March 7, 2000, for the murder of Rhonda Dunn. He later pleaded guilty to the murder of five others and was sentenced to five consecutive life terms without parole on April 5, 2001.^[3]

See also

• List of serial killers in the United States

References

1. "Inmate Population Information Detail - Rory Enrique Conde". Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
2. Antonio Mendoza. "SEE IF YOU CAN CATCH ME". mayhem.net. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
3. "Tamiami Strangler Gets Life Terms". Associated Press. April 5, 2001. Retrieved July 10, 2020.