DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (AP) — More than 20 years after a pregnant woman was found strangled on a roadway, a high school classmate who served time for killing another woman has been charged with her murder.
Gary Troutman was ordered held without bail Wednesday in connection with the March 1986 death of Angela Savage, the Broward County Sheriff's Office said.
Savage, 24, was last seen buying cigarettes at a neighborhood store with her infant son in tow. Witnesses said they saw a man approach her as she walked home. The infant was found safe the next morning on the porch of a family friend's home, and Savage's body was found sprawled on a road.
The sheriff's office said Thursday that DNA samples taken from Troutman linked him to Savage. Officials also said Savage had been raped, something her brother, Wayne Adams, said he learned only upon Troutman's arrest.
Troutman, 45, recently served nine years in prison for the murder of a pregnant teen in February 1986 — six weeks before Savage was killed.
Cassandra Scott, 17, had been found strangled near a warehouse in Deerfield Beach, near Boca Raton. Her death remained unsolved until Troutman was arrested in 1994 after a fight with his wife. While being questioned, he confessed that a strangulation fantasy had compelled him to kill the young woman, authorities said.
Court records did not list an attorney for Troutman. He had a public defender in his previous case, but that office's phone would not accept incoming messages Thursday.
Troutman went to Deerfield Beach High with Savage, and their families attended church together, relatives said after his arrest.
"They were all friends. (Troutman's) wife and my daughter — all of them grew up together," said Savage's father, Bernard Adams.