Did Matthew Lee Caylor kill Melinda Denise Hinson?

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PANAMA CITY - Guests and permanent residents of the Panama City Valu-Lodge stood in the oppressive heat Thursday watching detectives walk in and out of hotel rooms as they tried to piece together the killing of 13-year-old Melinda Denise Hinson.

The hotel's housekeeping staff found Hinson's body shortly after noon Thursday. Investigators said the medical examiner's office will determine how she was killed and declined to talk about where the body was found.

The killer, investigators said Thursday night, already could be in the Bay County Jail on unrelated charges.

"At this point I can only tell you that we have several persons of interest," said Capt. Robert Colbert of the Panama City Police Department.

One of those is Matthew Lee Caylor, 33, a registered sex offender from Georgia, Colbert said. The Bay County Sheriff's Office arrested Caylor on Wednesday and charged him with home invasion robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of false imprisonment, fugitive from justice, failure to register as a sex offender, fleeing and attempting to elude, and felony driving with license suspended or revoked.

Caylor, who is being held in the Bay CountyJail on a $115,000 bond, is accused of attacking and attempting to rob two women in a beach condominium.

Investigators said Thursday that Caylor, 1569 Wynfield Court, Auburn, Ga., had been staying at the Valu-Lodge since June 28.

Hinson was living at the hotel with her parents. She was reported missing at 6 p.m. Tuesday after failing to show up at a family friend's room to walk the friend's dog.

Panama City officials said they arrived shortly after 7 p.m. and began an investigation into the disappearance. Detectives searched the area and contacted other law enforcement agencies about the missing girl, Colbert said.

At 1 a.m. Thursday, they issued a news release declaring Hinson a missing person. Colbert said the timing was so morning television news programs would have it before going live at 5 a.m.

Bay County Sheriff's Office investigators arrested Caylor after one of the alleged victims of the condominium incident called Caylor and convinced him to meet her at a local supermarket, according to the Sheriff's Office incident report. When deputies attempted to arrest him, Caylor reportedly fled in a blue Pontiac Grand Prix and was pursued him westbound on Front Beach Road.

Deputies used spike strips to disable the car and arrested him.

"In light of this new information, we are actively and aggressively trying to find out everything we can about him," said Capt. Jimmy Stanford of the Bay County Sheriff's Office. "We want to be sure there are no other victims ... between Georgia and Panama City."

After he was arrested, Caylor cooperated with Bay County Sheriff's Office investigators about the home invasion, Stanford said. He told them he needed money to pay off a drug debt and that he had moved into the Valu-Lodge on June 28.

Stanford said Caylor was convicted of child molestation in Pickens County in 1999 and was classified as a sex offender then. He had been arrested on several other felony and misdemeanor crimes, about one each year, for nearly a decade, Stanford added. Those crimes included aggravated battery, failure to appear, theft, hit and run and making terrorist threats.

Another person of interest, a truck driver named Vince Wallace, whose age and address were not released Thursday, has been cleared, Colbert said. Wallace checked into the room where Hinson was found at 12:30 a.m. Thursday. According to investigators he went to sleep, checked out the next morning and never knew that Hinson's body was in the room.

Witnesses to the maid's reaction said she reported finding the girl under a bed in the room. Investigators did not confirm that, however.


Matthew Caylor


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