Video Script:
The Murder
On the morning of February 3, 1996, an observant passerby noticed that the lights were out and the doors were locked at the Lil’ Champ mini-mart in Orlando, Florida. This was unusual because the store was usually open at that time, prompting the concerned civilian to call the police.
Responding Orange County deputies arrived to find two employees of a cash transporting company waiting outside in an armored truck for a routine cash deposit. The deputies also noticed that the employee on duty’s car was in the parking lot, and that there was blood on the store’s exterior lock. After unsuccessfully trying to call the clerk, 31-year-old Terence “Terry” Paquette, they contacted another store employee to bring a key and let them inside.
The deputies encountered a horror scene when they entered the store and found Terry dead on the bathroom floor. Someone had stabbed him repeatedly and slashed his throat while he was opening up the store. The killer proceeded to steal $1,000 out of the safe and fled the scene, leaving the floors and walls covered in blood.
An autopsy revealed that Terry had been stabbed 73 times in the head, heart, lungs, chest, and abdomen. His store key was missing from the scene and has never been found.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Terry had moved to Florida from New Hampshire a handful of years before the murder. He lived alone and had “no hobbies” and “no obvious passions,” and mostly kept to himself. Terry worked at the mini-mart up to 60 hours per week and did not drink alcohol. In other words, he was the epitome of the Average Joe, and there were no outward indicators that his lifestyle would make him the likely target of a brutal murder.
While the nature of Terry’s relationship with his family is unclear, his body was not returned to New Hampshire for burial. He was laid to rest in a simple grave in Seminole County, which now appears to be all but forgotten. Based on information from a family history website, Terry may have a living sister but his surviving family seems to begin and end there.
The Investigation
Law enforcement spent two weeks processing the murder scene for clues. A large amount of the blood found inside the store belonged to the killer, who had apparently injured themselves during the murder. Based on the pattern of the blood, investigators believed the suspect had walked around the store after being wounded. The killer’s blood was found on the store’s lottery machine, freezer door handle, front entrance, and elsewhere.
Terry had deactivated the store’s alarm at 5:39 AM and was dead by seven o’clock in the morning. During that time period, a person had entered the store and called out for Terry, but the person left when he didn’t respond. According to police, the killer was in the store at the time, making the customer incredibly lucky that they decided to leave when they did.
A search of Terry’s vehicle and apartment turned up no useful evidence.
Without any witnesses to the actual murder and little evidence to go on, it wasn’t long before the case began to stall. Within six weeks of Terry’s death, investigators’ phones had stopped ringing completely. The investigation was officially closed in 1997 with the potential of being reopened upon the discovery of new leads.
In 2003, detectives took another look at the case. They ran the killer’s DNA through the national offender database, also known as CODIS, but failed to turn up a match. Investigators also re-interviewed witnesses and were able to eliminate some persons of interest based on a reanalysis of crime scene evidence, but they failed to glean any new information and were left with zero suspects when the case once again stalled.
A Break in the Case
The case was re-visited yet again in 2019 following the formation of a cold case unit in Orange County. Two years later, in 2021, detectives turned to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for help solving the case through genetic genealogy. This relatively new science involves tracing suspects through their relatives’ DNA via public platforms like Family Tree and GEDmatch.com.
The findings pointed toward a close relative of Carol Anne Crawford and Kenneth Stough, Sr.. One of the couple’s three sons, Kenneth Stough Jr., had previously worked at the convenience store where Terence was killed and lived right down the street at the time of the murder..
In hopes of surreptitiously obtaining a DNA sample, investigators obtained a warrant to put a tracking device on Stough’s car. They followed him around while waiting for him to discard a piece of garbage in public, and eventually got their chance when he threw a bag full of empty beer cans into a dumpster near his home in Eustis. The bag contained seven 16-ounce cans of Budweiser, which was more than enough to obtain a DNA sample.
Stough’s proved to be a match to the killer’s blood, and in November 2021 Stough was charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a deadly weapon. It was Orange County’s first-ever cold case to be solved through genetic genealogy.
During a press conference announcing Stough’s arrest, Detective Brian Savelli revealed that the suspect had a history of minor arrests, and that he admitted to being a former employee of the convenience store. Stough also allegedly denied killing Terry but struggled to come up with an explanation for the physical evidence.
By then, all of Terence’s known family members had passed away, leaving behind only some friends to notify of the new development in the case. And while the case appeared to be solved, it would ultimately be up to a jury to decide whether law enforcement had arrested the right suspect.
A Long-Awaited Conclusion
While awaiting trial in 2022, Stough wrote a letter to the judge overseeing his case requesting to be released from jail so he could help his fiance with bills and expenses. Prosecutors and the local sheriff’s office vocally opposed the request, citing the gruesome nature of the crime and arguing that Stough was a flight risk.
Stough had some supporters, including neighbors who told local station WFTV9 that the accused killer deserved to be released because he was innocent of the crime. The defendant’s attorneys, on the other hand, argued that they needed Stough’s help with the case and that he could better assist in his defense if he were released on an ankle monitor. Stough’s fiance, Emily Edwards, reassured the court that she was committed to ensuring that he followed any and all rules set forth by the court if he were freed.
The judge set bail at $300,000 with the requirement that Stough wear an ankle monitor if he managed to come up with the funds. He would also be required to pay $500 per month for the monitor fees. In the meantime, Stough turned down a plea deal and took the case to trial.
In 2023, a jury convicted 56-year-old Stough of first-degree murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life without parole in the state of Florida. He’s currently serving his time at a correctional facility in Orlando.
