GUILTY FL - Karen Watson, 41, murdered in her Lake Alfred home, 24 March 1987

Karen Watson's husband found her body on the living room couch of their Lake Alfred home in 1987, naked with stab wounds that pierced her lungs, heart, and liver.

Her murder was unsolved for 27 years – until police in Sandusky, Ohio, arrested Carl McCauley, 64, a friend whose DNA matched bodily fluids found at the scene, according to Polk County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Carrie Horstman.

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Eyewitnesses reported possibly seeing a white male wearing some sort of uniform shirt in the neighborhood during the time frame of the murder, and a beige-over-gold car at the Watson home.

In 1989, detectives interviewed Jacqueline McCauley, whose name had come up as a friend of the Watsons. When she was interviewed, she told detectives that both she and her husband Carl knew the Watsons and had been to their home.

Carl McCauley was employed by Adam's Lumber Company at the time, and the company confirmed that Carl did not come to work on March 24, 1987. Employees of the company also wore blue uniform shirts. Carl drove a beige-over-gold Chevy Nova at that time.

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Polk prosecutors have decided not to pursue charges against an Ohio man accused in the 1987 stabbing death of a Lake Alfred woman...

About two weeks later, prosecutors decided not to file formal charges against McCauley, "pursuant to further investigation and review of applicable case law," court records state.

He was ordered to be released from jail in Ohio, where he was being held awaiting extradition to Florida, records show.

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Nearly 30 years ago, a Lake Alfred housewife was brutally raped and stabbed in her mobile home. Her nude body, with one of 11 stab wounds piercing her heart, left for dead on the living room couch.

This week, the man prosecutors say killed 41-year-old Karen Ann Watson will stand trial for first-degree murder and sexual battery. Carl Junior McCauley, 67, a friend of the Watson family, will face life imprisonment if he's convicted as charged. Lawyers for the state and McCauley began the jury selection process Monday.

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Carl McCauley has been found guilty of first-degree murder and sexual battery almost 30 years after Karen Watson was found raped and brutally stabbed in her Lake Alfred home.

Jurors deliberated for four hours today following an almost two-week trial. McCauley has been sentenced to life on both counts.

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