Credit: Orlando Police Department
Nearly 38 years after the murder of Diane Matthews, the Orlando Police Department has charged a suspect in the case.
Through advancements in forensic technology, modern DNA testing, and decades of investigative work, detectives established probable cause to charge Willie J. Carpenter with first-degree murder. Carpenter was arrested on July 9, 2026, by the U.S. Marshals Service North Carolina Regional Task Force and is currently awaiting extradition to Orlando.
Matthews was found murdered on Sept. 8, 1988, inside the answering service where she worked in downtown Orlando. The injuries to her face were so severe that she was unrecognizable; however, an employee was able to identify her by her hair.
Following the homicide, detectives conducted multiple witness interviews and collected physical evidence, including fingerprints and DNA samples, from the scene. At the time, DNA technology was not routinely used in criminal investigations. Detectives preserved the biological evidence and continued to pursue leads for years, but no suspect was identified, and the case eventually went cold.
More than two decades later, investigators received a significant lead when Carpenter’s DNA was entered into CODIS following an unrelated arrest in North Carolina for a sexual offense involving an underage female. Carpenter’s DNA was identified as a potential match to biological evidence collected during Matthews’ homicide investigation.
Detectives interviewed Carpenter in 2013, during which he denied knowing Matthews and declined to provide a DNA sample. When detectives re-interviewed him in 2024, Carpenter voluntarily provided a DNA sample, allowing investigators to conduct additional testing with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The results were finalized in 2025, further strengthening the evidentiary link between Carpenter and biological evidence recovered from the crime scene.
Detectives then worked tirelessly for months reviewing the totality of the evidence, consulting with prosecutors, and ruling out other potential suspects before seeking an arrest warrant in 2026.
Republished courtesy of Orlando Police Department