WINTER PARK, Fla. – A man who police said was terrorizing and robbing women in Winter Park was arrested after a fingernail was found on a victim's clothes, according to police.
Farley Curry, Jr. 28, was arrested Wednesday night at his Eatonville home, not far from the crime scenes.
"The items gave us DNA evidence, and that evidence we were able to match with a sample already in the state database to give us our suspect," said Winter Park police Sgt. Jamie Loomis.
Police say the pieces could not have come together without the team of investigators working on the case.
"Between the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Eatonville Police Department, Maitland Police Department, Orange County Sheriff's Office...We have been working very, very hard on this to try to exhaust everything and let the community know (and) make sure everybody is as safe as can be," Loomis said.
Police say Curry was preying on women as they arrived to work early in the morning along Lee Road.
On Oct. 12 around 7:30 a.m., police said a female employee of a business on Lee Road was going to work and was confronted by Curry in the parking lot of the business. Curry reportedly grabbed the victim by her hair, dragged her to her car and drove her to an ATM to withdraw cash. After driving her to Eatonville, he got out of the vehicle and took off. The victim returned to her work and called the police.
On Oct. 25 just before 6 a.m., the husband of the second victim contacted the Winter Park Police Department and said that he was on the phone with his wife as she was reporting to work at a business in close proximity to the location of the first robbery. Suddenly, his wife screamed and the phone was disconnected.
That victim later told police that as she reported to work, a black man forced her to remain in her vehicle and drove her from her place of business to a location in Eatonville. This time, Curry armed himself and demanded cash from the victim.
Police say Curry has a long criminal history and his DNA was in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's database. Officers used touch DNA, such as skin particles, taken from the victim's clothing to make a match.
Police say the DNA match was only from the first case. Curry is facing charges of kidnapping, carjacking, robbery, robbery by sudden snatching and battery. In court on Thursday morning, Curry was read the list of charges against him and the judge ordered no bond.
Police are still waiting for DNA results from the second case before filing charges in that incident, but they say they are confident Curry committed both crimes.
The husband of the second victim said that his wife just wants to get over the incident but that they are both glad the suspect is in jail. The husband said they both hope he will be charged in the other kidnapping that the police are investigating.