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ORLANDO, Fla. - Nearly four decades after a woman was found brutally attacked and dead at her job in downtown Orlando, police have made an arrest.
Willie J. Carpenter, now 68, was arrested on July 9 by the U.S. Marshals Service in North Carolina under suspicion of first-degree murder in the 1988 death of Diane Matthews.
What happened to Diane Matthews?
The backstory:
On Sept. 8, 1988, Diane Matthews was found dead at her work in downtown Orlando. Police said Matthew’s face had been so severely injured that she was unrecognizable.
She was identified by a co-worker based on her hair, police said.
Orlando police said detectives collected fingerprints and DNA samples, and conducted multiple interviews, at the time of Matthews’ death. At the time, DNA technology was not routinely used, but the evidence collected was preserved.
No suspect was identified at the time and the case eventually went cold.
The DNA connection
Timeline:
Decades later, Carpenter was arrested in North Carolina for allegedly assaulting a young girl, unrelated to Matthews' death, Orlando police said. His DNA was collected and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which showed a potential match to evidence collected during the investigation into Matthews’ death, police said.
Police interviewed Carpenter in 2013. He said he did not know Matthews and declined to provide a DNA sample.
He was reinterviewed in 2024. At that time, he did provide a DNA sample, police said.
That DNA sample was then sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s testing facility, which showed a stronger "evidentiary link" between Carpenter and the biological evidence found at the scene of Matthews' death.
Police said detectives worked with the prosecutors and experts to rule out other suspects and establish probable cause for an arrest warrant.
Matthews was arrested in North Carolina and is awaiting extradition back to Orlando, police said.
What they're saying:
"Time does not diminish our commitment to justice. No matter how many years pass, the Orlando Police Department's Homicide Unit will continue to pursue the truth until every possible avenue has been exhausted and those responsible are held accountable," Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said.
What we don't know:
Police did not elaborate on the relationship between Matthews and Carpenter.
The Source: The information is from the Orlando Police Department.