Police in Florida were able to utilize new technology to identify the owner of a knife with blood and other DNA samples on it to make an arrest in a nearly 25 year old previously cold case homicide.
Officials in Sanford, Florida, announced on July 19 they have arrested Gary Durrance and charged him with second- degree homicide for the death of his then girlfriend Sherry Holtz from 1999.
“Sherry Holtz was brutally murdered and left behind in the woods as if her life had no value. This was someone’s mother, someone’s daughter,” Sanford police chief Cecil Smith said in a statement. “Durrance will now face justice for the horrible and despicable things that he did,” Smith said. “I hope his arrest brings a little comfort to those that loved Sherry and have waited 24 years for this moment.”
Holtz, 50 at the time, was found dead on December 4, 1999 with cuts on her neck and upper body and signs of strangulation, blunt force trauma and sexual battery. She was discovered by an individual collecting cans in the wooded area.
Holtz was last seen at a bar approximately half a mile from her home the day before her body was discovered lying on a concrete slab about 20 feet into a wood line in Sanford. Durrance has denied being with Holtz on the night of the murder.
There was a lock blade knife discovered near her body with blood spots and other DNA evidence on it.
However, the case quickly hit a dead end as the blood and DNA samples left on the knife were too small for investigators to test to identify the source at the time. Police also administered a sexual assault kit when her body was first discovered but did not find DNA evidence.
They did preserve the knife throughout the next 2 decades and were able to reopen the case in May 2023 with renewed hope to identify the murderer.
With advancements in DNA testing, investigators were able to confirm the blood on the knife did belong to Holtz and DNA left on the handle belonged to Durrance.
At the time of the murder Holtz and Durrance lived together in a Sanford home with three other individuals. Following the murder the roommates indicated the couple had an argument on December 2, 1999 in which Durrance kicked Holtz out of the house.
Durrance is currently being held in Seminole County at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility with a scheduled court appearance of September 10.