LAKELAND, Fla. — An affair dating back to the 1940s and the power of modern technology helped bring some closure for a Polk County family wondering who killed Teresa Lee Scalf in 1986.
During a news conference Monday morning discussing the details of a years-long cold case, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced after 37 years, investigators were able to identify the man who killed the 29-year-old registered nurse during the night of Oct. 27, 1986.
According to the sheriff, Scalf had defensive wounds from fighting off a neighbor by the name of Donald Douglas, who was 33 at the time of the murder. He had reportedly "aggressively stabbed her and cut her," with her almost being decapitated in a "sexually motivated" attack.
“It was violent and it was horrible," Judd explained. “We never gave up on this case.”
Scalf's mother, Betty, was the one to find her daughter dead in the apartment around 10:30 p.m. After not showing up to work, her mother went to check on her only to find a crime scene.
Now 37 years after the murder and the identity of the suspect revealed, Betty says her daughter's murder being solved is the reason why she lived this long.
"I'm 84 years old, I lived to see this done," she said. "I think that's why I lived so long."
Scalf, who was working as a nurse at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, had been living alone with her 8-year-old son who reportedly wasn't home during the murder.
Betty believes Douglas, who lived behind Scalf, had been inside the 29-year-old's apartment waiting for her to return.
"Teresa was a wonderful person, the most loving person," said Pam, one of Scalf's sisters. "She didn’t deserve this, our family didn’t deserve this."
Douglass reportedly died in 2008 of "natural causes" at the age of 54.
According to Judd, this murder wasn't solved right away when it first happened because of the lack of DNA genealogy technology in 1986. The sheriff's office had Scalf's blood and another unknown source of blood at the time and had no way to match it. Douglas was interviewed shortly after the murder but no evidence connected him to the crime.
But detectives with the sheriff's office never put the case down and continued to search for answers.
With the help of Othram, a private lab specializing in forensic genetic genealogy in 2022, detectives were able to connect Douglas back to the crime. Judd says the company used DNA to identify a third cousin to Douglas who had an "illicit affair" and a child in 1949 — with test results pointing to Douglas' family.
His son gave a blood sample when investigators requested it, and they came back to being related to the murder suspect. Judd explained Douglas' son was shocked by the results with there being no previous criminal history stemming from his father.
"If it weren’t for modern science, we still would wonder...who in the world murdered this beautiful registered nurse that worked in the trauma unit saving lives, making people better,” the sheriff said.
Scalf's other sister Lynn says while the family doesn't have closure for grief, they now have closure from the constant questions surrounding the 1986 death.
"We hope that the knowledge provides comfort to everyone," Pam said. "I hope it gives everybody comfort to know that we now know who did this.
"My family and I are moving forward in an attempt to just get past this."
Watch the full news conference below.