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.