Security guard accused of raping, killing tenant denied bond

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A security guard accused of raping and killing a tenant at an apartment complex where he worked was denied bond Wednesday.

Stephen Duxbury was moved to the Orange County Jail from the Volusia County Jail on Tuesday.

Police said Duxbury, 33, followed Sasha Samsudean, 27, to her third-floor unit at the Uptown Place apartments before raping and strangling her.

Surveillance video from Oct. 17 showed Duxbury helping Samsudean find her keys downstairs after she had spent a night out drinking with friends, and it later showed him leaving her apartment with garbage bags.

Samsudean’s body was found wrapped in a comforter. Police said bleach was used to try to destroy DNA evidence on her body. Detectives said Duxbury’s thumbprint was found in the apartment’s bathroom.

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Police said they have collected a great deal of evidence against Duxbury.

"There is no chance this defendant is going to get bond until these charges are resolved," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer said Duxbury's attorney could ask for a bond hearing, just to get prosecutors to present more evidence against him, helping them to mount a better defense.

"You know, you might discover something the state has when they argue against a bond, but the likelihood is he's not getting bond," Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer said the state is preparing to go before a grand jury, to try and get a first-degree murder indictment against Duxbury.

"Right now the state is putting the final touches on their investigation so they can go before the grand jury and guarantee they're going to get their indictment for first-degree murder," Sheaffer said.

Before Duxbury worked at the apartment building as a security guard for Vital Security and Investigations, he worked as a security guard at a New Hampshire resort.

Channel 9 uncovered that at the time Duxbury worked there, fiction writer Mark Okrant penned a murder mystery novel that took place at the resort. The book’s plot had striking similarities to Samsudean’s murder case.

Okrant said staff at the hotel were very fascinated by the fictional murder mystery in the place they worked every day. He believes it is very likely Duxbury read his book, which was sold in the resort’s gift shop.

“I can tell you the book, when it was released in 2005, was very popular among the guests and the staff,” said Okrant.

The antagonist of the story would go to intoxicated hotel guests’ rooms to take sexual advantage of them. The character worked as the maintenance manager of the resort, with great access to all areas of the hotel, much like the access police said Duxbury had at Samsudean’s apartment complex.

“Both women were very attractive, apparently. In each case, the perpetrator played rather cozy with the guest and there was intoxication of the victim involved,” Okrant said.

The fictional character thought he had killed a woman he raped in her room, then disposed of evidence in garbage bags. It’s what police said Duxbury did, as well--a parallel to the fictional plot.

“What you have here is someone who knows his way around, who knows how to use the hotel to prey on a vulnerable woman,” Okrant said.

Police have not said if they believe Duxbury read the book, but they have asked Channel 9 to provide them with the name of the book and the author.

Duxbury was arrested Friday in Port Orange, where he lives, on charges of first-degree murder, sexual battery and burglary.

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