72-year-old accused of stabbing neighbor 17 times in 1991 cold case, FL cops say

DNA testing has revealed a suspect in the brutal 1991 killing of a woman found stabbed 17 times, and it turns out he was one of her neighbors, according to Florida investigators.

Gene A. Stuller was arrested Monday, April 21, and charged with murder nearly 34 years after the crime, the St. Cloud Police Department reported.

He will turn 73 on April 23, records show.

“On Sept. 23, 1991, the St. Cloud Police Department ... discovered the body of 27-year-old Julia Sue Wilbanks, who had been brutally stabbed approximately 17 times, including fatal wounds to her heart,” police officials said during a news conference.

“Despite exhaustive investigative efforts at the time ... including male DNA on the victim’s clothing, no viable suspects were identified. The case eventually went cold, but it was never forgotten.”

A turning point came in 2012 when the department uploaded the suspect’s DNA profile into national databases. “Over the next several years,” sample analysis narrowed the pool of suspects to a family, then to a specific man, police said.

In March, detectives began surveillance on Stuller, who lives in Apopka, and recovered “a straw containing Stuller’s DNA,” officials said.

“Subsequent forensic testing confirmed a conclusive match to the male DNA recovered from the victim’s clothing,” police said.

Detectives also found records that “placed Stuller living near Julia Wilbanks’ last-known residence in Kissimmee at the time of the homicide,” police said.

He has been charged with second-degree murder and disturbing a dead body or associated articles, police said.

A motive in the killing has not been released.

St. Cloud is about a 30-mile drive southeast from Orlando.

This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM with the headline "72-year-old accused of stabbing neighbor 17 times in 1991 cold case, FL cops say."