| abstract | - Sam Royal was an officer for the Delaware State Police. In 2003, he worked with Philly detectives after a possible link was found between the 1997 murder of Philadelphia hitchhiker Matt Mills, the recent murder of a hitchhiker in Delaware, and a third hitchhiker in New Jersey. Sam helped to eliminate some of the detectives' pool of suspects until they were down to one; a truck driver and career criminal named Henry Floyd. Sam was confident Henry was responsible, as his whereabouts at the time of each murder fit, and he had a registered gun of the type that had killed Matt. Additionally, Sam had previously questioned Henry about the murder, and Henry had smugly mentioned he didn't pick up hitchhikers before Sam had even mentioned the victims were hitchhiking. Before Henry returned to Philly, Sam accompanied Lilly Rush and Scotty Valens to question Henry's longtime girlfried Janice Burns, who told them where to expect Henry. After Henry was taken into custody, Lilly noticed some wear on Henry's left boot, which they compared to footprints at the scene of each murder. In the end, the print linked Henry to the Jersey and Delaware murders but ruled him out for the Philadephia murder. Sam was nonetheless grateful to the detectives for helping him solve his case and took Henry into custody.
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