Years later, investigators charge man in Sarasota woman’s death

After years of investigation, a man has been charged in connection with the death of a Sarasota woman who was stabbed dozens of times in her home.

The suspect, 54-year-old William Case, was arrested this week.

The investigation began on March 31, 2011, when Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office deputies went to a home in the 2100 block of Schwalbe Way in the Kensington Park subdivision and found Karen S. Courts dead on the bedroom floor. Courts, 64, had been stabbed 28 times in her upper torso and was covered with a blanket, according to the affidavit.

A home healthcare nurse, Courts did not meet several of her clients that morning, so her employer called her daughter when she could not be reached. Courts’ daughter and husband went to the home and found Courts’ vehicle missing. They went into her home, using a key to unlock the front door, and found her purse, a bloody robe with her cell phone inside and the bedroom door locked from the inside, according to the affidavit.

That day, officials collected DNA and shoe impression evidence from Courts’ home.

During the investigation, a neighbor also reported to deputies that their home had been burglarized that day. Deputies collected evidence of blood, fingerprints and a shoe impression from his home as well.

The shoe impression’s size and pattern were consistent with the one found in Courts’ home, according to the affidavit. But other evidence collected did not identify anyone in connection with the crime. In the affidavit, investigators wrote this suggested the person who committed the crimes had not been arrested before.

On March 31, 2011, deputies found Courts’ vehicle at Sarasota Square Mall. Mall officials had called reporting suspicious vehicle. The keys were found in a trash can near the mall entrance. Surveillance video from the area showed a man parking the vehicle earlier that day and walking toward the the trash can where the keys were found, according to the affidavit.

William Case did not come into the picture until more than a year later, on April 12, 2012. Case had been arrested for attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. According to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, a deputy was serving an eviction notice when Case attempted to kill the deputy.

It was his first arrest, the affidavit stated.

Officials noted he matched the description of the person spotted on mall surveillance, and was arrested wearing the same style shoe that left impressions at the Kensington Park homes. Case’s DNA and fingerprints were collected as part of the booking process and both were identified as found in Courts’ home and vehicle, the burglary, and another burglary in Sarasota, according to the affidavit. He was charged in both burglaries.

A Sarasota County judge, however, found Case incompetent to proceed on the burglary charges and attempted murder of a law enforcement officer on Aug. 2, 2012. He was admitted to the Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee. A judge again found him incompetent to proceed with trial a second time in 2014.

By July 10, 2017, detectives learned that a hearing had been requested to transfer Case to a less secure commitment facility, according to the affidavit.

But a break in the case came on Nov. 27, when all the evidence in Courts’ death had finally been processed. That’s when investigators note they received an Florida Department of Law Enforcement report that concluded the shoes worn by Case when he was arrested in 2012 corresponded in brand, design, size and shape with the impressions found in Courts’ home.

Investigators charged Case with murder and a warrant was issued for his arrest on a charge of second-degree murder.

Case was arrested Monday by the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office. He was brought to the Sarasota County jail and is being held without bond.

This story was originally published December 20, 2017 at 9:46 AM with the headline "Years later, investigators charge man in Sarasota woman’s death."