January 1, Beer can solves cold case, investigators say

A can of beer was all it took to crack open a cold case after 25 years.

Deputies in Orange County, Florida, arrested Kenneth Robert Stough Jr. for the 1996 murder of a convenience store manager.

“I really give kudos to the amazing evidence techs that responded to that crime scene, that night, and had the forethought to process every single thing in the crime scene,” said James Copenhaver, a public safety expert and former deputy.

Authorities say Stough stabbed manager Terrence Paquette 73 times and cut himself somewhere along the line, leaving drops of his blood at the crime scene.

“If a sample or part of that blood is left behind, that’s certainly something to test for the DNA categories,” Copenhaver said.

In 2019, Orange County investigators reopened the case. The blood samples linked the DNA to Stough’s relatives and then made a positive match to Stough. Stough had tossed a beer can into a dumpster behind a gas station, which deputies recovered.

“The family is just so thankful for that because they have no closure because justice hasn’t been served,” Copenhaver said. “It’s just a good way to give closure to everybody involved — including the cops.”

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Beer can links Florida man to 1996 cold case murder, detectives say