JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A stolen car and handgun found after a St. Augustine homicide two years ago helped Jacksonville police solve the murder of a 45-year-old woman, the sheriff's office announced Thursday.
Lt. Steve Gallaher said Troy Butler, 29, has been charged with murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in the May 2015 death of 45-year-old Sabrina Blackshear.
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Blackshear was found with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest on Silver Street near West 15th Street. Someone walking a dog found Blackshear in a patch of grass beside the sidewalk near a vacant lot.
Gallaher said a used condom and a .40-caliber shell casing were found at the scene and submitted to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He said the case went cold until August 2015, when a group of suspects in a stolen Toyota Camry with a .40-caliber inside were caught in an unrelated St. Augustine homicide.
Police tracked the stolen car to Butler, who initially wasn't cooperative about the handgun but later admitted that the gun was his and was in the car when it was stolen, Gallaher said.
The FDLE found DNA belonging to Blackshear and Butler on the gun, prompting investigators to question Butler about Blackshear's murder, Gallaher said.
Police said he admitted to being with Blackshear for prostitution but denied killing her. He was released because of a lack of evidence at the time, Gallaher said.
In August 2016, FDLE matched the ballistics of the casing recovered near Blackshear's body to Butler's gun, Gallaher said.
And in July, cellphone records put Butler at the scene of the murder on the night it occurred, Gallaher said, and police got an arrest warrant for Butler, who was taken into custody Thursday. Gallaher did not disclose a motive for the murder.
“It's frustrating for everyone involved, including the detectives. Obviously, you want to solve these cases as fast as you can, but you need to make sure that you have all the evidence and all the facts so we have the best case possible,” Gallaher said. “The way information comes in, we might not be able to link things together until the very end.”
Butler had no ties to the St. Augustine homicide, Gallaher said.
That case involved a random carjacking murder of Carl Starke, a 36-year-old man with autism.