Accused hotel manager killer pleads guilty to rape of clerk in same hotel 8 days earlier

Dwight T. Hayes, 21, accused in the slaying of Cynthia White, a hotel manager in Columbia, MO on November 24, pled guilty to the sexual assault of a hotel clerk in the same hotel a week earlier. Hayes waited in the lobby of the Fairfield Inn under the ruse of waiting for a friend. Just after midnight on November 16, he decided to stick up the establishment.

The victim gave him money from the register, and the man told her to go into the back room. He demanded she remove her clothing , and then he raped and sodomized her.

Afterward, the man stole her car keys and left the hotel in the victim’s car.

Police originally arrested Hayes on Nov. 25 based on a surveillance photo recorded during an attempted robbery on Nov. 13 at the Hampton Inn on Clark Lane. Police released the picture to the media in hopes of making an arrest.

Police received a call about the man in the picture and arrested Hayes at the home of a relative, 1812 McKee St., in connection with the attempted robbery. During a search following the arrest, a handgun and ammunition thought to be used in White’s slaying were found at his residence. Police said Hayes also made incriminating statements about the murder and voluntarily admitted to committing the robbery and rape during interviews with investigators.

Prosecutors will ask for the maximum sentence, which will be over 100 years, when Hayes is sentenced on June 23. With Missouri's truth in sentencing laws, Hayes will serve over 85 years before parole. Knight said that the plea will cut down on potential avenues of appeal.

"This was severe, egregious criminal conduct, it was over the top,” Knight said. He just flat-out deserves the maximum sentences. What happens at sentencing will be critical here. With a plea of guilty, his rights to appeal are substantially narrowed,” Knight said. “It’s the best possible outcome.”

Knight asked for, and recieved a continuance in Hayes' murder case so he could subpoena witnesses.

“I had a lot of witnesses subpoenaed for this trial, and a murder case takes even more witnesses,” Knight said.

Boone County Judge Gene Hamilton granted a continuance in Hayes' murder trial until after May 5, when Hayes will be given a trial date.