ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Orange County Sheriff's Office said that years of hard work and diligence led them to the arrest of a suspect in connection to the rape and murder of a woman in 2011.
Jose Mejia, 32, has been arrested in Jacksonville after being charged for the rape and murder of 36-year-old Katharine Zafra.
Zafra's body was discovered on October 2 of 2011 in the yard of a vacant home on Makoma Drive near Orange Blossom Trail.
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While the sheriff's office did not want to reveal at the time how Zafra was killed, court documents later revealed she died of strangulation.
Detectives identifed Mejia as a suspect in 201 through a hand print left on a fence at the scene of the crime by using a print database.
The suspect was deported by Homeland Security to Honduras in 2017 however, preventing an arrest.
It isn't clear how Mejia made his way to Jacksonville.
In addition to murder charges, he's also on an immigration hold.
Channel 9 asked the sheriff's office if they could confirm if there was any type of relationship between the victim and suspect, but officials have not yet given comment.
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