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Status: Sentenced to two life sentenced in prison in May 1982
A native of Brooklyn, Frank Canonico was arrested by police in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in early July 1981, charged with the murders of two local women.
Homicide investigators said Canonico had signed confessions in the shooting deaths of Willine Wall, age 60, and Phyllis Schwartz, age 43, of nearby Lauderhill.
At least a dozen other murders were suspected, spanning five states, with victims shot in every case. By July 29, when Canonico was formally indicted on two counts of murder, police announced that he had openly confessed to killing twenty-five "loose women" whom he met in bars across the country.
Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial
Killers - Hunting Humans
Man Charged With 2 Murders May Be
Suspect in 12 Others
The New York Times
July 18, 1981
A Brooklyn man charged here with two murders may have
committed as many as 12 others in at least five states since 1979, the
police said today.
Frank Canonico, 39 years old, was charged earlier
this week with murdering a 60-year-old widow in Fort Lauderdale and a
43-year-old woman in nearby Lauderhill.
The police said that he had confessed to both
killings, then began to talk about several other murders in which the
victims, all women, were shot to death.
Murder Suspect Plans Plea
The New York Times
August 1, 1981
A man who the police say has confessed to killing as
many as 25 ''loose'' women he met in singles bars will plead not guilty
to two murder charges, his attorneys say. Frank Anthony Canonico, 39
years old, was indicted by a Broward County grand jury Wednesday in the
deaths of Phyllis Schwartz, 43, of Lauderhill, Fla., and Willine Wall,
60, of Fort Lauderdale.
SEX:
M RACE: W TYPE: N MOTIVE: Sex.
MO:
Shot "loose women" met in bars while traveling
