Lavonne Patricia Sailer was 48 when she was murdered on March 1, 1976, in Melbourne, Florida. Sailer was taken to an isolated area near the Brevard County dump, robbed, then shot five times at close range with a .22 caliber pistol.

Daugherty embarked on a violent crime spree over about twenty days that included multiple robberies and other killings. He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, robbery, and kidnapping in Sailer's death. Daugherty pled guilty; a jury was impaneled for sentencing and recommended death, which the judge imposed. The court found aggravating factors, including prior violent convictions, and Daugherty also received life terms for robbery and kidnapping.

Daugherty was executed by the State of Florida on November 7, 1988, by electric chair; the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal. Did anyone in the Melbourne area at the time remember sighting a hitchhiker or a vehicle near the Brevard County dump on or around March 1, 1976?