CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FL – A cold case from 1990 has been closed following recent developments.
The State Attorney’s Office filed an order on November 3, to drop charges against Roland T. Davis, Sr., 70, after his death on July 8. Davis, indicted by a Charlotte County Grand Jury on August 3, 2022, was accused of the March 21, 1990, murder of Sharon Marie Gill, 42.
Gill was found stabbed 39 times in her home. Advances in DNA analysis led to a breakthrough in the case. A towel from the crime scene provided DNA evidence linking Davis to the crime.
Cold Case Detective Mike Vogel and his team, with assistance from Elyssa Trautmann of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, identified Davis as a suspect, who was not initially included in the original investigation.
Davis, also convicted for a separate 2000 murder in Ohio, was on death row in the Chillicothe Correctional Institute. His conviction was aided by DNA evidence linked to a previous felony conviction in Charlotte County.
