Sheriff: Man who fatally stabbed woman at apartment near Casselberry in 1986 arrested

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A 50-year-old man who sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed a 38-year-old woman at her apartment near Casselberry in 1986 was arrested Wednesday evening in Knoxville, Tennessee, Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said Thursday morning during a news conference.

Daniel Emitt sexually assaulted Eveline Aguilar and stabbed her to death July 14, 1986, in the master bedroom of her apartment on Winter Woods Boulevard near Semoran Boulevard and Howell Branch Road, Lemma said.

Aguilar had lived at the apartment for less than one month and had called relatives hours before her death to notify them of her desire to return to her native New York, Lemma said.

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Lemma said Emitt lived a half mile from Aguilar.

He said Emitt is a felon who has been arrested more than 30 times.

"We are never going to give up in finding justice for the victims' families," Lemma said during the news conference. "For those other victims' (families) who are out there, (who) are still awaiting justice, I promise you that our team of law enforcement officers from across the country are ... looking at these cases and using the technology that we have available to us today to find justice for you as well."

Investigators said a warrant for Emitt’s arrest was obtained after evidence samples from the case were resubmitted to a national DNA database.

Deputies said a DNA analysis was performed that matched a sample voluntarily submitted by Emitt in 2005 for a case in Melbourne in which he was not arrested.

Investigators said semen and fingerprints discovered at the scene matched Emitt's DNA profile and fingerprints.

Emitt was booked into the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility on charges of first-degree murder and burglary. He will be extradited to the John E. Polk Correction Facility.

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