Thanks to advancements in science, St. Cloud police have identified and arrested a suspect in a murder case that had gone unsolved for over 30 years.
On Monday, April 21, 2025, the St. Cloud Police Department arrested 72-year-old Apopka resident Gene Stuller for his alleged involvement in a 1991 homicide.
According to SCPD, the body of a deceased woman, identified as 27-year-old Julia Sue Wilbanks, was found on September 23, 1991, off of Neptune Road, approximately half a mile west of Kissimmee Park Road (now Old Canoe Creek Road). At that time, police conducted interviews, collected physical evidence, and conducted a DNA analysis of the victim’s clothing.
However, the case soon went cold, and no suspects were identified.
“As DNA science has progressed, the Police Department submitted DNA from the crime scene to national and public databases,” said SCPD in a media release on Monday.
The police department stated that when the results of those DNA tests came back in March of 2025, Stuller was identified as the suspect in Wilbanks’ death.
After being located by police on Monday, Stuller was placed under arrest and charged with the following: second-degree murder and disturbing a dead body or clothing/article nearby.
“The St. Cloud Police Department is committed to seeking justice for Ms. Wilbanks and her family, as well as other unsolved cases,” said St. Cloud Police Chief Douglas Goerke. “As science becomes more advanced, it gives us opportunity to solve cases that couldn’t be solved in the past.”