Orlando police have made an arrest in the murder of Sasha Samsudean who was strangled to death in her North Orange Avenue apartment two weeks ago.
Stephen Michael Duxbury, 33, has been charged with first degree murder, sexual battery and burglary and is in police custody.
Duxbury was a security guard at the Uptown Place Apartments where Samsudean lived, police say.
Friends notified police on October 17, that they couldn’t reach Samsudean after spending the evening of October 16, with her in downtown Orlando. Initially, perceived as a missing persons case, it soon turned into a homicide after police entered Samsudean’s apartment and discovered her body in her bed.
Investigators were able to link Duxbury to Samsudean’s murder through physical evidence. She was strangled to death.
Duxbury was taken into custody on Friday in Volusia County by the US Marshals Service and transported to the Volusia County Jail.
“This case was a crime of opportunity, by a man [Stephen Michael Duxbury] working in what should have been the protective service of the residents of Uptown Place Apartments. Instead, he used his access to prey on a vulnerable person,” OPD Chief John Mina said in a statement.
