DNA solves 1990 rape, murder case

COCOA -- Sophisticated DNA testing has solved a 1990 rape and murder of an elderly Cocoa woman who was attacked while caring for her 106-year-old mother, police said.

The suspect, Edwin Soto, 43, was arrested early today at the Okaloosa County Correctional Institute where he is serving a 40-year sentence for burglary.

Police said Soto, who has been in jail since 1999, was linked through DNA to the murder of Charlie Creech.

Creech, 74, was attacked in her Cocoa home shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 7, 1990. A string of detectives had worked the case before finding a DNA match in a statewide database.