VENICE, Fla. — The Sarasota Police Department announced the sentencing of David L. Stephens to life in prison for the 1988 murder of Judith Elaine Doherty.
Stephens has been in prison at the DeSoto Correctional Institution in Arcadia on Armed Sexual Battery and Burglary charges connected to a February 1989 case that occurred in Sarasota County.
Stephens was scheduled to be released in July 2021.
Sarasota Police served an arrest warrant to Stephens for Homicide and Sexual Battery on Monday, December 3, 2018, connected to the 1988 cold case homicide.
On July 31, 1988, A jogger found Doherty’s body in a field. An investigation revealed Doherty was the victim of a homicide and sexual battery.
Doherty was 23 years old and was a resident of Venice, Florida. DNA technology did not exist at the time of the crime. When the technology became available, detectives sent evidence from the scene to FDLE. Stephens’ DNA found at the crime scene linked him to the murder of Doherty.
“In this case, DNA evidence was the silent witness for 32 years. Judith Doherty’s brutal sexual battery and death remained unsolved, yet the silent witness was always there to tell its story,” said Karen Fraivillig, Assistant State Attorney.
