Murder suspect charged nearly 14 years after deadly Orange County restaurant shooting, deputies say

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - The Orange County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday it had enough evidence to charge a man with murder in the 2012 shooting death of a restaurant worker.

Calvin Washington, who was already in state prison on unrelated charges, is currently being held at the Orange County Jail. Washington is charged with First-Degree Murder and Robbery with a Firearm.

Victim killed ‘execution style’: Detectives

The backstory:

Ying Sun, 53, died in the hospital after deputies said Washington stormed into the China Wok restaurant in Pine Hills in September 2012 with a gun to rob the restaurant of its money in the cash register.

Deputies said Washington shot Sun "execution style" and pistol whipped another employee before running away.

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Deputies named Calvin Washington a person of interest two months later and interviewed him in December. Deputies said they also swabbed Washington for DNA.

The sheriff's office said that DNA profile came back with mixed results. Sun's case went cold.

According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant, investigators had the same DNA re-tested a decade later. Deputies said advanced testing technology allowed them to conclude the DNA from clothes, gloves and money was a match to Washington.

Washington is in the middle of serving a 30-year prison sentence for beating a girlfriend in 2015 and stabbing his neighbor who was trying to help her.

What they're saying:

Retired Orange County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Michael Ruggiero was the supervisor of the OCSO homicide squad when the shooting happened.

"It was a particularly horrific crime of someone that was just working," Ruggiero said. "She wasn’t resisting."

Ruggiero said they dedicated a lot of resources in 2012 in an effort to make an arrest, but he said the mixed DNA results meant deputies reached a roadblock.

"It doesn't provide you with any real solid leads because it doesn't identify a suspect or a contributor on the DNA," Ruggiero said.

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He said investigators held onto the evidence and advancements in DNA testing technology meant another round of testing could yield more conclusive results.

"If you have really good DNA, that was tied to the suspect, because in this particular case, we had the surveillance video which showed that shirt that was worn by the suspect," Ruggiero said. "It was recovered by a K-9 track a short distance from the scene, so that shirt was definitely connected to the suspect and the crime. So it's in evidence still. It's still secured. It's still valid as evidence. Dedicated cold case detectives see that evidence and say, 'Let’s go ahead and re-test this evidence and see what we, the lab can find on it right now.'"

Orange County Sheriff John Mina celebrated news of an arrest with a post online.

"Our detectives are relentless and never give up," Mina wrote. "We will always try and get justice for our victims. Great work!"

What's next:

It is unclear when Washington's next court date will be.