Alleged getaway driver in Longboat Key Zota Resort double-homicide charged with murder
More than six years after a fatal armed robbery that left two employees dead at Longboat Key’s Zota Beach Resort, detectives have made a second arrest in the case.
Latoya Hanna, 35, was arrested in Port St. Lucie on Jan. 12 and extradited to Manatee County for her involvement in the August 2017 shooting that killed a resort manager and a security guard. Investigators say Hanna drove the getaway car.
Latoya Hanna is the sister of another suspect, Darryl Hanna Vaughn Jr., who was arrested in 2017 and charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed robbery.
Shortly after his arrest, he experienced a medical event that led to the dismissal and discharge of his case in June 2020, court records show.
Detectives say Darryl Hanna, who worked at the resort at the time as a part-time security guard, shot and killed fellow security guard Kevin Carter, 51, and night front desk manager, Timothy Hurley, 59, at about 2:40 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2017, before getting away from the hotel with about $900.
A fellow employee told detectives at the time that Darryl Hanna had complained about his finances and his lack of hours at the resort in the days leading up to the shooting, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.
Arrest in fatal Zota Resort robbery
Detectives say on Aug. 4 four people drove to Zota Beach Resort at 4711 Gulf of Mexico Drive in Longboat Key, planning to rob the resort.
An unnamed co-conspirator who confessed to the murder told detectives that he, Darryl Hanna, Damien Garvin and Latoya Hanna were the four involved, with Latoya Hanna being the driver the night of the robbery, according to an affidavit.
The co-conspirator told detectives he, Darryl Hanna and Damien Garvin wore gloves, covered their faces and armed themselves before entering the hotel that night. Surveillance footage released to the public in 2017 reportedly showed Darryl Hanna entering the lobby and was a key piece of evidence in building the case against him, detectives said at the time of his arrest.
Once inside, detectives say they ordered Carter, the unarmed security guard, to the floor at gunpoint and told Hurley, the front desk manager, to give them cash from the drawers. Investigators believe Garvin also ordered Hurley to open the safe.
Hurley told Garvin he did not have the combination to the safe, but detectives say Garvin told him if he did not open the safe he was going to kill him. The co-conspirator told detectives that Garvin then shot Hurley in the leg before telling him to open the safe again. When he did not do so, Garvin shot and killed Hurley, according to an affidavit.
The co-conspirator then told detectives that Garvin shot and killed Carter as they were fleeing the scenes, according to an affidavit, which also stated that there were no surveillance cameras in the area where the murders allegedly occurred.
Previous Longboat Key robbery attempt
Detectives say that a later investigation revealed that this wasn’t the first time some of them had tried to rob the resort.
On July 21, 2017, before the fatal robbery, detectives say Darryl Hanna, Latoya Hanna and the co-conspirator made a failed attempt to rob Zota Beach Resort but were scared off by Carter, the same security officer killed during the robbery.
Carter told dispatchers in a 911 call the night of the failed robbery that while he was patrolling the parking lot, he discovered a white sedan and spoke to a woman who investigators say matched the description of Latoya Hanna.
Carter also saw a man standing near the dumpsters while appearing to adjust what looked like a mask. At the time of the call, he told 911 dispatchers that he believed they were going to rob the resort.
Longboat Key license plate reading cameras show a white sedan rented to Latoya Hanna entering Longboat Key just before the 911 call and leaving shortly after the call.
Key cell phone evidence in murder case
A search of Darryl Hanna’s cell phone showed a series of text messages were exchanged between him and his sister shortly after the call was made. In the messages, Latoya told her brother “Let’s go” and “Now” before he replied “Coming” and she texted “Now” again.
Cell data shows that the two of them were in the area of the Zota Beach Resort at the time the messages were exchanged, deputies say.
On the day of the murders, detectives say security footage captured a white van rented by Latoya Hanna driving south through Bradenton Beach toward Longboat Key shortly before the killings occurred.
Garvin was arrested for a separate murder in a North Miami shooting in 2020, court records show. At the time of that shooting, detectives say Garvin and Latoya Hanna lived together in Hollywood, Florida, and have three children in common. A 9mm pistol purchased by Latoya Hanna was used in the Miami shooting, according to an arrest report.
Latoya Hanna is being held in Manatee County Jail without bond for murder in connection to the 2017 Zota Beach Resort killings.
