Florida cold case breakthroughs: Sheriff's unit cracks two long-unsolved killings
Osceola County's Cold Case Program solved a 2007 Kissimmee stabbing and a 2022 Kissimmee-area shooting after reopening investigations in 2024, providing closure to families and highlighting ongoing efforts to resolve dozens of unresolved…
Two Florida cold cases have been solved, authorities announced, marking the first completed inquiries from the Osceola County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Program, formed in 2024. The two Kissimmee cases involve a fatal stabbing in 2007 and a fatal shooting in 2022, and both were closed only after new leads emerged and investigators reopened the files.
The 2007 stabbing of De’Andre Nathaniel Wellnitz, then 17, occurred during a house party in Osceola County on June 24. The case ran cold within months of the initial inquiry, but in October 2024 investigators identified a person of interest and later located the individual in Orlando earlier this year. In a subsequent interview, the person of interest said he attended the same party and had been involved in a fight. He said he picked up a nearby kitchen knife and began waving it to keep others from hitting him. Investigators ultimately determined the person acted in self-defense and declined to file charges.
The family of Wellnitz expressed relief at the decision to close the file, with his mother, Kelly McDonald, telling FOX 35 she appreciated the empathy and straightforwardness shown by investigators. "What it has done for me has given me closure… I'm able to stop playing the story that I've played for 18 years over and over again in my head. I'm able to see something different. I can have peace now," she said. McDonald added that she hopes other families who have suffered similar losses can also receive closure, even if it is not precisely what they imagined.
The second case involved Jommil Baez-Quinones, who was shot multiple times near Indian Point Circle on Feb. 23, 2022. After investigators spent months exhausting all leads, the case ultimately went cold. In October 2024, authorities reopened the investigation and identified a suspect: Luis Eluvar Gonzalez, 23. With assistance from U.S. Marshals, Gonzalez was arrested and is charged with first-degree manslaughter with a weapon and first-degree robbery with a firearm in connection with Baez-Quinones’s death.
Officials say the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Program, formed in 2024, has solved two of the county’s 32 remaining unsolved cases. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The indictments and arrests mark a milestone for a program designed to reexamine long-dormant inquiries, cross-check new digital leads, and pursue tips that may have previously gone unheeded. The department emphasized that progress in cold cases often hinges on persistence, new information from witnesses, and cooperation with other agencies, including federal partners.
The cases underscore the challenges of cold-case investigations, particularly in jurisdictions with decades of unsolved files and high turnover of evidence. Sheriff’s officials noted that the Cold Case Program will continue to review tips and reanalyze earlier work, while acknowledging that not every reopened case will result in charges. Still, families described the closure as a meaningful step forward after years of uncertainty.
As part of the program’s outreach, investigators have pledged to maintain communication with victims’ families and to document the investigative process, illustrating how new technology, re-interviews, and persistent case management can yield answers long after initial investigations have ended. The community is watching closely for further updates as the county builds on these early successes and seeks to bring resolution to other families awaiting answers.
