Local

Titusville police make arrest in 10-year-old double homicide

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — On May 22, 2011, the bodies of 23-year-old Anquannette Skanes and 35-year-old Lapriet Jordan were discovered inside an apartment at the River Breeze Apartments on US-1 in Titusville.

The night before the bodies were found Skanes had left her children with a babysitter while she went out with friends.

Skanes texted family that she had arrived home the next day.

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When a family member went by the apartment later Skanes didn’t answer the door, so they climbed through an open window and found the bodies of Skanes and Jordan.

At the time investigators said Larry Augusta Lee, with whom Skanes had had a child, was a person of interest in the case but never had enough evidence to arrest him in connection with the murders.

On Thursday, more than 10 years after the murders Titusville police announced they had found evidence linking Lee with both murders.

Read: Person Of Interest In Murder Case Jailed On Other Charges

Sgt. Timothy Werring with the Titusville Police Department said investigators never once thought about giving up.

“This has been a long time coming and you have to understand we do everything we can to build cases and we never give up. It’s important for us to find justice especially in cases like this,” Werring said.

Read: Person Of Interest Sought In Double Murder

Stacy Skanes, Anquannette Skanes’ father, struggled to put more than 10 years of grief into words.

“I want to thank the Titusville Police Dept. for your diligence. A lot of times these cases just go unsolved. I didn’t want to be a part of a family where nothing is done,” Skanes said.

Lee is currently being held in the Seminole County jail awaiting extradition to Brevard County to face murder charges.

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Matt Reeser

Matt Reeser, WFTV.com

Matt Reeser joined WFTV in 1998 as a news photographer and has worked for television stations in Kentucky and West Virginia.