A man who was arrested in 2021 using genetic genealogy to link him to the fatal stabbing of a convenience store clerk in 1996, was sentenced to life in prison this week.
Kenneth Stough, Jr. was found guilty of first degree murder with a weapon in the death of Terrance Paquette, who was found stabbed-to-death by Orange County deputies.
The fatal stabbing took place on February 3, 1996 at a Lil’ Champ mini-mart located on Clarcona Ocoee Road. On that day, Orange County deputies responded to the gas station just before 7 a.m. for suspicious activity after someone noticed the lights were out even though the store was normally open at the time.
Deputies entered the store and found Paquette’s body inside the bathroom, covered in blood. Paquette had been stabbed 73 times.
In the decades since the incident, advancements in genetic genealogy blood testing led to the reopening of the cold case.
In 2021, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement got an outside genetic genealogy company to test the blood evidence.
Blood from Stough was found throughout the store, including smeared across the freezer door, freezer flap, on a lottery machine, and on the entrance door. Evidence showed that Stough injured himself during the attack and moved around throughout the store before leaving the scene.
During their testing, the blood was found to belong to one of three sons of Carol Anne Crawford and Kenneth Stough, Sr., the parents of Stough, Jr.
Of the three siblings, detectives focused their search on Stough, Jr., as he had previously worked at the convenience store, which has been converted into a Kwik Stop in the years since. Detectives also determined that Stough, Jr. lived in an apartment across the street from Paquette.
Stough, Jr. was located in Eustis and law enforcement began surveilling him. Stough, Jr. was eventually seen discarding a bag of empty beer cans at a gas station. Investigators collected the cans and used DNA from the cans to link Stough, Jr. to the blood that was left at the scene of the crime.
After a five-day trial that concluded on Friday, August 25, a jury found Stough guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison.
In the years since, all of Paquette’s family has passed away.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the cold case was the first homicide that OCSO solved using genetic genealogy.