He went to look for work and was imprisoned for a brutal homicide committed in 1998

Todd Barket He never had any problems with the police. His record shows only a few minor infractions of the highway code. At the age of 51, he applied for a job at a cleaning company, which performed the usual background check. Nobody imagined that the process would lead to arrest of the applicant for brutal homicide.

The police in Delray Beach, Florida, was finally able to close the investigation into the Homicide of Sondra Better, murdered in 1998 at the age of 68, a few days before the renewal of their wedding vows. He had resigned and there were only a few days left after his body was stabbed and beaten to death.

Police investigated the body and found the suspect's DNA at the scene of the crime. "We had fingerprints, blood and even a possible description of a witness. But the person responsible for this atrocious crime seemed to have disappeared"Delray Beach's acting police chief, Javaro Sims, explained at a press conference.

After the crime, fingerprints and blood samples from the murderer had been entered into the national databases, but there was no coincidence. The suspect was a ghost for police records. The reason for the crime was not even clear.

It was more than 20 years of mystery. Sondra's widower had died unanswered and the couple's daughters had accumulated press clippings on the case, without being able to close the wound.

Last December, Barket sent out its fingerprints for a background check on a cleaning company. A month later, Fingerprints have been checked in the database and … bingo. There was a coincidence. The police also stated that the subject matched the description of the witness.

Florida detectives and police officers found him and began to follow in his footsteps. The police eventually got their DNA. On Tuesday, it was proven that it also matched the one found at the crime scene. There was no doubt about his relationship with the crime.

"It's amazing that he had no contact with the police, he spent all that time under the radar, and the 26 years before the crime"says Captain John Crane-Baker.

Robert Stevens, a police officer from Delray Beach, had been investigating the case for ten years before retiring. It was he who had been chosen to give the news to the girls of Sondra, and it was also emotional for him.

"It was very good. There were tears, joy, and that will close your story"How did he.

For his part, Sims commented: "It took us 20 years. It's been a long time since justice is done for a loved one"

(With information from AP and EFE)