![\"Unsolved](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/k0zneyaf4wdal69q.jpg\")
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Nearly four decades after the brutal murder of a young St. Petersburg<\/a> woman, investigators are once again searching for answers using modern forensic science to revisit a mystery that has lingered since the summer of 1984.<\/p>\n The victim, Carolyn Merricks, was just 28 years old when she was found stabbed to death<\/a> inside her South St. Petersburg apartment.<\/p>\n READ: What happened to Christy Luna? New person of interest named in 1984 Florida cold case<\/a><\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n When Merricks\u2019 sister couldn\u2019t reach her, relatives went to check on her apartment \u2014 that\u2019s when they made the horrific discovery.<\/p>\n “The relatives were trying to get a hold of her. They couldn\u2019t find her,” said St. Petersburg Police Detective Wally Pavelski. “I think they ended up going to the house and finding her.”<\/p>\n Detectives arrived to what they described as a violent scene.<\/p>\n UNSOLVED FLORIDA: Where is Samantha Fiddler? The mystery behind a Canadian mom’s disappearance in Polk County<\/a><\/p>\n “She was located on the floor just inside a doorway. It looked like a struggle had occurred in the apartment,” Pavelski said.<\/p>\n Investigators said Merricks had been stabbed multiple times.<\/p>\n Friends described her as beautiful, fun and intelligent. Merricks, who grew up in Bartow before moving to St. Pete, left behind a 10-year-old son and a large family.\u00a0<\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n She worked as a cocktail waitress at the Tierra Verde Yacht Club, but before that, she also spent time working as a server at the Suncoast Playboy Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n READ: St. Pete detectives examine Jean Ault’s ‘bizarre’ 2002 murder<\/a><\/p>\n In the 1980s, the club attracted hundreds of hopeful applicants for its coveted bunny server positions. Wearing the club\u2019s signature uniform, complete with bunny ears and a bow tie, Merricks worked under the name “Bunny Chandra.”<\/p>\n In 1983, she was named Suncoast Playboy Bunny of the Year, winning a competition that included a trip to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Friends said she was also one of the first Black Playboy Bunny servers at the club, but the glamour of the club\u2019s image would later cast a shadow over the investigation.<\/p>\n The murder investigation <\/p>\n After Merricks\u2019 murder, some wondered whether her killing could have been connected to her notoriety or her work at the club. Detectives said investigators, at the time, thoroughly examined that possibility.<\/p>\n “They went over everybody that was personally known to her\u2026 anybody at the club that she had contact with, or at the apartment complex,” Pavelski said. “But, they weren\u2019t able to forensically link them back to the scene at the time.”<\/p>\n MORE: Lithia mother, infant son still missing 32 years after disappearance: ‘Living a nightmare’<\/a><\/p>\n Investigators said the crime scene did not appear to be a robbery, and that detectives also believed Merricks likely knew the person who killed her.<\/p>\n “She\u2019s not going to let you into her house unless she knows you,” Pavelski said. “Looking at her lifestyle and the way her relatives speak about her, it could have been somebody she knew.”<\/p>\n Local perspective:<\/p>\n During the 1980s, several other women in St. Petersburg were also killed in stabbing attacks, raising fears about a possible serial killer. Neighbors in South St. Petersburg even held community meetings to discuss their concerns, but detectives said those cases likely were not connected.<\/p>\n “Each one has their differences, which would probably rule out a pattern,” Pavelski said.<\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n One of the most chilling links to the Playboy club came in 1983 when Linda Lanson, the photographer who took photos of Merricks winning Bunny of the Year, was found murdered in Tampa. Lanson had been raped and shot.<\/p>\n Her killing \u2014 along with the murder of another woman, Barbara Grams, was eventually solved decades later through DNA evidence. In 2020, investigators connected convicted killers Amos Robinson and Abron Scott to those crimes.<\/p>\n READ: New leads emerge in unsolved Clearwater double homicide, investigators focus on persons of interest<\/a><\/p>\n However, both men were already in prison at the time Merricks was murdered in 1984, ruling them out as suspects in her case.<\/p>\n Detective Pavelski is now revisiting the case with modern technology unavailable to investigators decades ago. Among the tools now being used is advanced hair analysis and genetic genealogy.<\/p>\n “We\u2019ve been able to work with a couple labs to do individual hair analysis on the case,” Pavelski said.<\/p>\n Those tests could potentially identify unknown DNA or even lead investigators to relatives of a suspect through genealogy databases.<\/p>\n Big picture view:<\/p>\n For detectives, and Merricks\u2019 family, solving the case is about more than closing a file \u2014 it\u2019s about accountability and understanding why the crime happened.<\/p>\n “I\u2019d like to hold somebody accountable and be able to talk to them and ask them why,” Pavelski said. “The family members want to know why too. Why did this have to happen to my loved one?”<\/p>\n Nearly 40 years later, that question still remains unanswered, but investigators hope modern science may finally reveal the truth behind the death of Merricks.<\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n Anyone with information about Carolyn Merricks\u2019 death is asked to contact the St. Petersburg Police Department.<\/p>\n The Source: Sources for this report include an interview with a cold case detective from the St. Petersburg Police Department, newspaper archives and archives on past stories from FOX 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n St. Petersburg<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Unsolved Florida<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Nearly four decades after the brutal murder of a young St. Petersburg woman, investigators…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[630,47,115,1157,202,204,203,199,201,200,88216,628],"class_list":["post-188149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-unsolved-florida","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/playboy-bunny-murder-1.jpg\")
Who was Carolyn Merricks? <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/playboy-bunny-murder-3.jpg\")
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Revisiting Carolyn Merricks’ murder case <\/p>\n