After 24 years, police in Sanford, Florida, believe they have found the man who brutally murdered a local lady and dumped her body in a wooded area where she had been living. Officers confirmed on Friday that her boyfriend had kicked her out of their home the day before.
According to Sanford police, the defendant, Gary Durrance, who is now 73 and in the Seminole County jail, had a volatile relationship with the victim, Sherry Holtz, 50. Bianca Gillett, a police spokesperson, stated that officers called to the couple’s house between 1996 and 1999 for domestic violence occurrences involving the two.
She didn’t elaborate on the instances. Aside from the murder, Durrance’s criminal history in Seminole County includes two DUI charges in 1999, according to records. Nonetheless, officials claim that matters came to a head in early December 1999. They received a call about a body recovered behind Aamco Transmission at 2890 South Orlando Drive. An individual collecting cans in the woods discovered Holtz, alerted employees at a nearby business, and then contacted authorities.
It was a “brutal homicide,” Gillett claimed.
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Holtz was discovered on her back on a concrete slab approximately 20 feet into the woods. Her throat was slit, and that was the principal cause of death, but Gillett also mentioned strangling and blunt force trauma, which might have been fatal. Holtz’s clothing was ripped off, exposing the majority of her body; authorities suspect she was sexually assaulted.
At the time, authorities spoke with Durrance and the couple’s three roommates. According to police, the defendant kicked the victim out of the house on December 2, 1999. Holtz was last seen on December 3 at “Uncle Nick’s Bar” on 2605 Park Drive in Sanford.
Witnesses reported she departed between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., and police said testimonies indicated she may have gone with “two separate male persons of interest.” Beyond that, authorities said they discovered nothing to back up the information regarding the persons of interest. Gillett reported that the crime location was approximately 0.6 kilometers from the tavern.
At the time, however, there were claimed flaws in Durrance’s story. According to witnesses, the defendant, who claimed he hadn’t seen Holtz since December 1 of that year, left the house late on the 3rd or early on the 4th and returned between 2:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. on the 4th, police said.
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The case was halted until last year when investigators reopened it and resubmitted evidence to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. According to investigators, the blood this time matched Holtz’s, and the DNA on other portions of the weapon was from Durrance. Gillett stated that the persons of interest were excluded due to the tests, but they remained persons of interest as of Friday.
Investigators stated they reinterviewed any witnesses who were still alive at the time, and police said Durrance told them he saw Holtz’s body in December 1999.
On Thursday, officers apprehended the defendant in Volusia County.