An arrest was made Friday in the death of Sasha Samsudean, 27, whose body was found on Oct. 17 inside her downtown Orlando apartment, police said during a news conference.
Detectives with the Orlando Police Department said they arrested apartment security guard Stephen Duxbury, 33, on charges of first-degree murder, sexual battery and burglary to an occupied dwelling.
Samsudean was found strangled in her Uptown Place apartment on North Orange Avenue, police said. Authorities said a surveillance image was captured of Samsudean from a camera in the parking garage earlier that day.
Raw: Police press conference on slaying arrest
Police said early in the investigation Duxbury told them a story about two women being outside the Marks Street entrance to the building when Samsudean arrived on the night she was killed. They said he also said he later saw her with a man and offered a vague description.
According to detectives, when they looked at surveillance video from the apartment building they knew Duxbury wasn't being truthful.
Duxbury told investigators that he walked Samsudean to her car in the parking garage to look for her key, because she had forgotten the code to her apartment's digital lock, investigators said.
According to investigators, surveillance video showed Samsudean and Duxbury going to and from the garage, and that at one point she appeared to be laughing.
Investigators said the video also showed Samsudean bumping into walls as she walked and that she appeared to be impaired.
They said she had returned home from a bar in downtown Orlando called The Attic.
Duxbury denied ever going into her apartment, but his thumbprint was found in her bathroom.
Investigators said they believe Duxbury raped Samsudean before or after killing her.
Investigators said it was a painstaking process that led them to Duxbury.
"It wasn't like we focused in and he was the only suspect. We had to go through everyone in the complex seen on video.
Everyone was thoroughly investigated. We did not just solely focus on him," OPD Homicide Detective Dan Brady said.
According to investigators, Duxbury used cleaning products to try to destroy his DNA evidence on her body.
They said Duxbury took Samsudean's pants and underclothes to dispose of them and that he left her body wrapped in a comforter.
According to investigators, they didn't reveal how Samsudean died during their investigation because they knew that only her killer and investigators would know that detail.
Investigators said when they asked Duxbury, during a polygraph, about how Samsudean was killed, he reacted most strongly to the question "Do you know if Sasha was choked?" compared to whether she was poisoned, shot, stabbed or hit.
Brady offered an apology for not releasing more information to the public early in the investigation.
"There were no witnesses. This wasn't the kind of case we could put out the details because of the manner of death, how she particularly died. With that I apologize. Normally, we want to put it all out there," Brady said.
Police said Duxbury has worked for five months as a security guard at Samsudean's apartment building.
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