Delaware man arrested and charged nearly 30 years after girlfriend's body was found in Florida canal

A Delaware man was arrested and charged nearly 30 years after the death of his girlfriend, whose body was discovered in a Florida canal in 1996, officials announced Wednesday.

Stephen L. Ford, 72, was taken into custody near his home in Georgetown, Delaware, on Aug. 16 on a warrant for second-degree murder with a weapon in connection with the death of Doris A. Korell, authorities in Florida said.

He was extradited and booked into the Manatee County jail in Florida on Aug. 30. Attorney information was not available for him.

According to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office, Ford stated that his “past has come up to haunt me” after his arrest.

Korell, 45, was found dead on Dec. 15, 1996. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said the body, which went unidentified for a year, was discovered floating in a drainage canal, according to a news release.

A medical examiner said the body had been stabbed 83 times and had trauma on the neck and face, the release says.

Due to a lack of physical evidence and leads, the case went cold. Detectives in Manatee County were also unaware at the time that police in St. Petersburg had been searching for Korell, who vanished following a fight with Ford.

Korell’s daughter had reported her missing after Ford allegedly told her that Korell had gone shopping after the pair got into an argument.

Korell’s vehicle was later found at a local mall. Investigators now believe Ford parked it there “and wiped it down,” the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said. Korell’s belongings had been kept in a storage unit that was kept secret from her daughter.

During the initial investigation, Ford attempted suicide and made troubling statements, the sheriff’s office said. In an alleged suicide note addressed to his two sons, Ford described how he wanted to be with Korell if she was dead, the news release states. He also allegedly told detectives, “If I killed her, I should get the death penalty.”

Ford, however, denied his involvement in Korell’s disappearance or death and eventually moved to Delaware.

In 2017, the case was reopened and new information came to light.

“Acquaintances of Doris said she feared Stephen Ford and the troubled couple were having domestic and financial problems,” the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said.

Cold case detectives also noted that Ford’s behavior early on in the investigation “showed a clear pattern of consciousness of guilt,” the release states.

The sheriff’s office said that “evidence obtained in this investigation, including Ford’s deliberate actions and statements to mislead law enforcement and ultimately his attempts to commit suicide” are probable cause that he killed Korell.

“Cold cases are some of the most difficult crimes to crack,” State Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement Wednesday. “The defendant is correct when he said after his arrest, ‘my past has come up to haunt me.’ My office and our partners will continue to seek justice for Doris Korell.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com