Today (May 18), a Seminole County Jury found Danny Lynn EMITT (54), guilty of First-Degree Premeditated Murder (CF) and Burglary of a Dwelling with Assault or Battery Weapon Reclassified (LF), in connection to the July 14, 1986, killing of Eveline Aguilar (38), in her Winter Park apartment.

Circuit Judge Melissa Souto presided over the four (4) day trial with evidence presented by Assistant State Attorneys Bryanna Bynum and Domenick Leo. With just over one (1) hour of deliberation, the jury returned with the guilty verdicts.

Judge Souto adjudicated EMITT guilty and set sentencing for June 20^th, 2023. The First-Degree Premeditated Murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.

Case History

On July 14, 1986, Aguilar's body was discovered by a friend who found the front door of her apartment slightly ajar. Aguilar had been brutally and repeatedly stabbed to death, with the medical examiner ruling it a homicide. As part of the crime scene investigation, deputies discovered that a glass pane had been removed from a window, allowing it to be unlocked. They also recovered palm prints from the interior windowsill, and seminal fluid from the victim, but both remained unidentified.

In 1986, EMITT was not identified as a suspect and the case eventually went cold. As part of a case review in the months prior to his arrest, investigators subjected evidence recovered in 1986 to advanced DNA testing. The results were compared to DNA profiles within a national database and positively matched to EMITT. The recovered palm print was also identified as EMITT's.

An arrest warrant was obtained by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office and EMITT was taken into custody in Knoxville, TN on May 22, 2019. He was then extradited to Seminole County to stand trial.