Police: DNA evidence leads to arrest in New Smyrna Beach cold case murder

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — Detectives in New Smyrna Beach said they have solved a 28-year-old cold case, the oldest in the department’s history.

Investigators said advances in DNA evidence allowed them to link Lynn Young to the murder and rape of Whitney Gunn, 88, in July 1990.

Young raped and beat Gunn in her home on Live Oak Avenue, detectives said. Gunn managed to call 911, but died three days later at the hospital.

Last summer, investigators resubmitted evidence from the crime to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that connected Young to the case, police said.

Officers said Gunn’s family was told earlier this week about the indictment and was relieved to hear the news.

“The biggest question is why,” said New Smyrna Beach police Chief Mike Coffin. "It's a question I can't answer for (her relatives). I mean, how do you tell someone this monster broke into this beautiful lady's house and beat her to death and took her life? There is no answer for that."

Police said Young was 17 at the time of the murder and living in the New Smyrna Beach area.

"He did not know Whitney Gunn -- never met Whitney Gunn, never had a relationship with Whitney Gunn, so to me that's about as random as it gets," Coffin said. "He doesn't deserve to be in the same breath or associated with someone who is as beautiful and as sweet as Whitney Gunn."

Young, who is now 45, is already serving a life sentence for impersonating a police officer and raping a 65-year-old woman in 1997, Florida Department of Corrections records said.

Police said Young was arrested for sexual battery with a weapon or force in 1991 in an unrelated case for which he served five years in prison.

Cox Media Group