After 36 Years Sarasota Police Solve the 1985 Murder Cold Case of Denise Stafford..

[Sevens My Charm]

Almost 36 years after a young mother was killed in her home, Sarasota police say they've identified the man responsible.

Denise Marie Stafford was 28 years old when she was found dead on Oct. 13, 1985, in her home on Tarpon Avenue in Sarasota. Detectives at the time said they believed Stafford was home with her child when she was killed but were not able to track down the person who killed her.

Detectives say clues from the original report led them to believe that Denise was attacked while standing and then intentionally placed lying down on her bed. This led them to use DNA technology to test items found at the time of the young mother's death, including the pants she was wearing.

In July 2021, investigators say they found a match belonging to 64-year-old Joseph Magaletti, who died in prison in 2015, was a person of interest in the case back in 1985 was but was never found convicted of the crime, according to police.

Officers added the Magaletti was already sentenced to life in prison for a separate 1995 murder.

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The case had gone unsolved until detectives were able to connect Joseph Magaletti, Jr., a bouncer at the local bar where her husband worked, in her decades-old slaying.

Magaletti was serving a life sentence for an unrelated 1995 murder at the time of his death. He had been named as a person of interest in the case in 1985 but was never a suspect.

Frank Stafford, was working an overnight shift at the bar when Magaletti, who he described as a drug abuser with a sporadic employment record, killed his wife, Denise, in their home with their infant daughter nearby.

Magaletti was convicted in June 2001 of the 1995 killing of his former neighbor, Kathleen Leonard, Florida Department of Corrections records indicate. In that investigation, DNA from a single hair linked Magaletti to the slaying. He was also suspected, but never charged, in the murder of 19-year-old Elizabeth Zea in January 1987, who was found beaten to death in downtown Sarasota.

Magalettiis also suspected of killing others. Birdwell said he suspected Magaletti killed to fund his drug habit.

Florida Police Say Suspected Serial Killer Responsible For 1985 Cold Case Strangulation Of New Mother | Oxygen Official Site

Police in Florida announced this week that DNA evidence implicates a now-deceased suspected serial killer in the 1985 cold case murder of a Florida woman.

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[cubby]

A serial killer almost nipped in the bud. I wonder how many others he killed before he was caught. Drugs were probably just a happy side effect, he killed cause he wanted to.

 

[thuumpr]

Oh yeah... His DNA tattled on him.

If they could've solved this back in 1985, 1995 wouldn't have happened.

Already in prison for life -- what more can they do to him.

(Suggestions?)

 

[Sevens My Charm]

Oh yeah... His DNA tattled on him.

If they could've solved this back in 1985, 1995 wouldn't have happened.

Already in prison for life -- what more can they do to him.

(Suggestions?)

@thuumpr he already kicked the bucket before they solved this

 

[Mountaineer95]

Chalk up another win for SCIENCE!