First-Grade Teacher Charged With '88 Murder
Orange Co. Educator Accused Of Murdering Her Husband
POSTED: Wednesday, March 18, 2009
UPDATED: 6:50 pm EDT March 18,
2009
ORLANDO, Fla. -- An Orange County teacher has been arrested and charged with the 1988 murder of her husband.
Delores Laster's husband, Clarence Laster, was found dead in the couple's Orlando home in March 1988.
Delores Laster, now 61, told investigators she had returned home from a trip to Gainesville to find her husband dead in the garage. She said someone broke into the house and killed him.
Detectives did not find any evidence of forced entry at the home, and they also reported discrepancies in family testimony, but Delores Laster was not charged at the time.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement reviewed the case beginning in mid-2008 and was able to verify significant inconsistencies in the suspect's story. Investigators said they were able to finally crack the cold-case by interviewing Lasters' children, who were in the home at the time of the shooting.
A grand jury indicted Laster on Tuesday and the Orange County Sheriff's Office arrested her later that day. She was charged with first-degree murder with a firearm. She has been an Orange County public schools employee for 40 years and was a first grade teacher at Dillard Street Elementary up until Tuesday.
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