Ballistics Tests Close Case on "Honeybee" Murders

By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 14, 2010 1:30PM

Gary AmayaBallistics tests on a revolver used in a foiled tanning salon robbery in Orland Park conclude that it was the same gun used in the October "honeybee" murders in far suburban Beecher and in Indiana.

Will County officials said over the weekend that 48-year-old Gary Amaya was being viewed as a suspect in the murders. They received their break when a tanning salon customer fatally shot Amaya while struggling for the gun at an L.A. Tan. Amaya was later declared dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center.

Will County and Lake County, Ind. officials searched Amaya's home in the rural town of Rankin yesterday, and a profile emerged of Rankin as a loner whose lack of contact with neighbors stood out like a sore thumb in a town of 600 people. Amaya moved to Rankin a decade ago to tend to his ill mother, who passed away two years ago.