Tuesday, Sept. 10th:
*Arraignment Hearing (@ 1:30pm ET) - FL - Sherry Holtz, 50, was last seen Dec. 3, 1999, at a bar along Park Drive, almost half a mile away from where she was found dead. Found Dec. 4, 1999 behind a business in the 2800 block of So. Orlando Drive in Sanford; case re-opened after 2023 DNA results returned on 6/18/24. *Gary Arthur Durrance (49 @ time of crime/73) an arrest warrants was issued (718/24) & was arrested (7/19/24) in Volusia County & booked & charged (7/19/24) in Seminole County with 1st degree felony homicide [willful kill/murder not premeditated]. Held without bond. Seminole County
Sherry Holtz was found dead in a wooded area in Sanford, Florida, on Dec. 4, 1999, Sanford Police Dept. officers said. A person walking through the woods collecting cans found Holtz’s body. Authorities found her throat cut & evidence she had suffered blunt-force trauma, strangulation & sexual battery. Gillett said she was found with her clothes pulled off, “exposing most of her body.” At the time of her death, Holtz was living in a house in Sanford with Durrance & three other roommates. At the time of her death, Holtz was living in a house in Sanford with Durrance and three other roommates, Gillett said. After interviews with all of the housemates, authorities determined Holtz & Durrance had gotten into an argument, prompting Durrance to kick Holtz out of their home on Dec. 2, 1999 — one day before she was killed. A bloody lock-blade knife found in the area of Holtz’s body was sent for testing in 2000, police spokesman Bianca Gillett said. Results indicated the blood on the knife belonged to a human, but, because the samples were so small, they were unable to perform DNA testing at the time. A sexual assault kit was negative for DNA, Gillett said. The evidence was preserved & the case was reopened in May 2023, officials said, when DNA evidence was resubmitted to the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement for further testing. Last month [June 18, 2024], the blood on the knife was determined to be Holtz’s & additional DNA found on the knife belonged to a longtime boyfriend of hers, officials said. Police identified the boyfriend as Gary Durrance. Durrance initially denied being with Holtz on the night of the homicide, but witness statements and evidence say otherwise. Police arrested Durrance near a wooded area off Veteran's Memorial Parkway in Orange City [Volusia County] on Thursday [7/19/24] & booked into the Seminole County Jail on a charge of second-degree homicide.
7/18/24 Docket update: Affidavit for arrest warrant. Circuit/County Judge's warrant. Set bondsman at zero. 7/19/24: Arrest report. First appearance set for 7/19/24 @ 2pm. Warrant cancelled/served. Next arraignment hearing on 9/10/24 @ 1:30pm.
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