DNA Evidence Leads To Victim's Neighbor
19-Year-Old Charged Has Violent Past
POSTED: Sunday, August 31, 2008
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Homicide detectives on Sunday announced an arrest in slaying of a 65-year-old woman on the Westside earlier in the month.
Police said DNA found under the fingernails of Delores Futrel, who was found dead in her Bennington Drive residence Aug. 5 when officers checked out reports of screams coming from her townhouse.
Detectives said Randall Deviney, 19, was a neighbor of Futrel and a person of interest from the beginning of the investigation.
"She was someone who befriended him and actually was talking to him in reference to his troubled past," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Lt. Pat Ivey said. " It angered him and he snapped and he committed the crime."
After confronting him with the evidence of his DNA under his fingernails, police said he confessed to slitting her throat, then moving her body.
Police said Deviney has an extensive criminal history, with arrests in the past four years for aggravated assault, sexual battery, grand theft and several other offenses.
Neighbors said they were relieved to hear that an arrest was made in the case.
"We believe God has answered our prayer in this neighborhood," Moses Oche told Channel 4's Diane Cho. "We wanted this person to be caught and we are so grateful to hear the good news."
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