By Fallan Patterson

Staff Writer

Two detectives from local police departments were sworn in as members of the new Joint Homicide Investigative Team, a collaborative effort among law enforcement in Osceola and Orange counties to help solve cold case homicides and provide assistance with new murders.

St. Cloud Police Department Det. Jeffrey Munoz and Kissimmee Police Department Det. Isa Hasbun were selected by their respective superiors to represent Osceola County and assist with the new task force.

“We’ll continue to investigate any homicide in the city but this is a huge resource for us if we need it,” St. Cloud police Chief Pete Gauntlett said.

The purpose of the multi-agency task force, which includes detectives from 12 area police departments as well as members of the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Crimeline, is to consolidate resources for active and cold case homicides.

Smaller agencies, such as the city of Edgewood, which only has one detective, will benefit from having access to larger departments’ equipment and expertise. Additionally, all 20 detectives currently sworn into the task force are no longer bound by jurisdictional limitations and have free range of the 2,500 square miles of the Ninth Judicial Circuit.

“This is a day that the people of Central Florida are going to celebrate, that is, all except those who think they’ve gotten away with murder,” State Attorney Lawson Lamar said. “This team is going to work hard to identify, arrest and help me prosecute those murderers who are out there in the community right now and those who in the future are tempted to commit murder.”

Members of the Florida Police Chiefs Association approached Lamar with the idea for the task force, specifically since nearly every police department involved has at least one cold case homicide on file.

“This is an idea whose time has come,” Lamar said. “The commitment to this effort will bring emotional closure to many murder victims’ families. We owe it to the victims of these crimes.”

Diana Bryan is hoping for such closure, after her daughter Kelly Balderas, 22, was found murdered in March 2004 in a Kissimmee motel room, the former Breeze Inn on U.S. Highway 192.

Bryan has contacted the Kissimmee Police Department monthly for years seeking updates or a break in the case. She is hopeful the new task force will help solve her daughter’s murder.

“Fresh eyes are great because maybe they’ll see something that’s been missed. Eight years is long enough,” Bryan said. “I can’t imagine spending my life knowing her murderer is walking the streets and can kill someone else. Kelly is not going to be forgotten and she will have justice, one way or another.”

Balderas’ case is one of 10 cold cases the Kissimmee Police Department has in its files, dating back to the brutal murder of Bonnie Goodson in November 1992.

Goodson, a wife and mother, was found beaten to death at the former Truck Accessories Store on John Young Parkway in Kissimmee where she worked. The victim of a robbery, Goodson was beaten in the head with a small, black prying tool, the police report stated.

Kissimmee Police Criminal Investigation Division Capt. Warren Shepard said the cold cases are not unsolved from lack of trying.

“The manner of collecting evidence has changed. There’s a lot of legwork involved and with time, memories fade,” he said. “We’ve pretty much exhausted our physical evidence. It helps to have a fresh set of eyes on it.”

St. Cloud police have just one cold case in their files.  

Julia Sue Wilbanks was found by a passing motorist just before 10 a.m. on Sept. 23, 1991, in a swale approximately 200 yards east of the bridge near Partin Triangle Park.  

Wilbanks, a known prostitute and drug user who also was known as Julia Sue Loveless, was possibly murdered elsewhere and dumped by her killer. She was stabbed multiple times and had severe defensive wounds on her hands but no signs of sexual assault were found, according to police.

Munoz said he was ready to help tackle any cold case he is assigned to but it’s the added experience he’ll gain working on cases with more experienced detectives he’s excited about.

“It’s just a matter of getting together with the team and gathering their training as well, especially coming from a smaller agency,” he said.

Kissimmee Police Chief Fran Iwanski also is pleased Det. Hasbun will be “developed” working cases with other, larger agencies, she said.

“To be great at something, you have to do it all the time but I don’t want the homicides (committed in Kissimmee) for them to have the experience,” she said.