Mark Riebe is a Florida inmate serving a life sentence for the 1989 kidnapping and murder of Donna Callahan, a pregnant convenience store clerk in Gulf Breeze. In 1998 he told a state investigator he had killed thirteen people in total and gave specific details about several unsolved cases along the Florida Panhandle. He later took all of those confessions back, and no additional murder charges have ever been filed against him.1International Business Times UK. Who Is Mark Riebe
The One Case He Was Convicted Of
Donna Callahan was 29 and pregnant when she vanished from a Jr. Food Store near Pensacola on August 6, 1989. Her car, keys, and purse were left behind.2Orlando Sentinel. Accused Killer Leads Police to Missing Woman’s Body The case sat unsolved for seven years.
In 1996, Riebe’s half-brother, William Alex Wells, offered to plead no contest and tell investigators what he knew in exchange for a life sentence. Wells, already serving 30 years for a convenience store robbery in Mary Esther, led police to Callahan’s remains in a rural area about 75 miles northeast of DeFuniak Springs. She was identified through dental records.2Orlando Sentinel. Accused Killer Leads Police to Missing Woman’s Body Both men were convicted and sentenced to life, with Riebe’s conviction entered in 1997.3Northwest Florida Daily News. Could There Have Been Two Serial Killers
The Confession to Thirteen Murders
About a year into his prison term, Riebe agreed to meet with Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent Dennis Haley at the request of Riebe’s mother. During that meeting Riebe said he had killed thirteen people and walked through several unsolved Panhandle cases in detail.3Northwest Florida Daily News. Could There Have Been Two Serial Killers
The account Haley found most persuasive concerned Lindsey O. Sams, a 35-year-old Mississippi woman attacked in 1986 at the Seaward Condominium complex in Miramar Beach. Sams was found by her daughter with severe head injuries and died at a Tennessee facility in June 1987. Riebe described her car and its Vanderbilt University license plate, her habit of leaving bed at night to eat sugar for a hypoglycemic condition, and the path of the struggle down a flight of stairs. Haley said the details were “consistent with the crime scene” and included information that had never been made public.3Northwest Florida Daily News. Could There Have Been Two Serial Killers The Sams attack had previously been attributed to another Panhandle serial killer, Frank Walls; Walls denied it, and Haley came to accept that denial after hearing Riebe’s account.
In the same session Riebe confessed to the killings of Rhonda Taylor in 1990 and Pamela Ray in 1992. He also discussed Bonnie Gayle Ryther, a 27-year-old woman whose body was found near Ferry Park in Fort Walton Beach on April 11, 1978, a week after she was reported missing. Riebe mentioned a particular brand of beer he drank, and cans of that brand had been found near Ryther’s body.3Northwest Florida Daily News. Could There Have Been Two Serial Killers
In 2007, Panama City Police publicly named Riebe as the prime suspect in the 1986 murder of Jaqueline Brant, saying he had confessed. Captain Jimmy Stanford said Riebe “knows several things that only the killer would know.”3Northwest Florida Daily News. Could There Have Been Two Serial Killers
Why He Was Never Charged With Any of Them
Riebe later recanted every one of the additional confessions. Haley has said he does not accept all of the original admissions but still believes the Sams confession is genuine, based on the specificity of what Riebe knew. Without the confessions, according to reporting on the case, there is not enough evidence to bring further charges.1International Business Times UK. Who Is Mark Riebe Investigators have continued to link him informally to as many as six deaths beyond Callahan, spanning 1978 to 1992 across the Northwest Florida Panhandle.3Northwest Florida Daily News. Could There Have Been Two Serial Killers
The Pamela Ray Case
The most active of the unsolved cases tied to Riebe is the disappearance of Pamela June Ray, a 36-year-old mother from Atlanta who vanished on August 12, 1992, in Panama City Beach. She had traveled to the area with her two children and was last seen walking toward the swimming pool at the Wilhite Apartments on Front Beach Road around 5:30 a.m. Screams for help were heard shortly after. Her children were found alone in a car.4The Charley Project. Pamela June Ray
When Riebe confessed to Ray’s killing, he noted she had been carrying a “single key,” a detail investigators confirmed was characteristic of her. Her body has never been found. Riebe’s daughter later told police the family moved abruptly from Florida to Warrensburg, Illinois, shortly after Ray disappeared, and that her father had forced his children to dig and bury bags on the property. Police excavated the Illinois property in 2019 and found no remains.4The Charley Project. Pamela June Ray
In February 2026, a new tip prompted a large-scale search in a heavily wooded area around Pine Log State Forest in Washington County, Florida. More than 150 people took part, including the Panama City Beach Police Department’s cold case unit, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, cadaver dogs, the FSU Panama City Crime Lab, and students from the Gulf Coast State College Law Enforcement Academy.5MyPanhandle. Search Underway After Officials Receive New Tip in Missing Pamela Ray Investigation As of mid-2026, officials had not disclosed whether the search produced physical evidence or remains.6WJHG. Officials Share More Info on Pamela Ray Case Panama City Beach Police and Crime Stoppers raised the reward for tips leading to an arrest to $9,500.
The Death-Row Prisoner Who Says Riebe Is the Real Killer
Riebe’s name has also surfaced in the case of Ernest D. Suggs, a Florida death-row prisoner convicted of murdering Pauline Casey. In post-conviction proceedings, Suggs argued that Riebe is the actual killer. His filings included declarations from Riebe’s mother, Patsy Wells, and from Randy Sheheane and Randy Ray Chapman, all stating that Riebe had confessed to them that he killed Casey. The filings also alleged the FDLE had been given this information during its earlier investigations of Riebe and Wells, and that it was suppressed.7Florida State University College of Law. Initial Brief for Appellant Ernest D. Suggs
In September 2025, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s summary denial of the motions, finding them untimely, procedurally barred, and based on inadmissible hearsay.8Florida State University College of Law. Opinion, SC2024-0660 and SC2024-0702
Where He Is Now
Riebe remains incarcerated in Florida, still serving his life sentence for Donna Callahan’s murder.1International Business Times UK. Who Is Mark Riebe The Pamela Ray investigation and several of the other cases connected to his 1998 statements are still open.