A task force made up of officers from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, Gainesville Police Department and U.S. Marshals arrested a man on Tuesday morning connected to a 2008 Haile Plantation sexual battery case.
Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell announced in a press conference Tuesday afternoon a DNA report released last week led investigators to the arrest of Andrew Payne Jr., 38, in Willacoochee, Ga.
“Hopefully he will not see the light of day except when he is in handcuffs and in shackles, or behind prison walls,” Darnell told reporters and officials. “That’s our goal at this point.”
According to an ASO news release, on May 21, 2008, at around 6:30 a.m., the 36-year-old woman, whose name is withheld because she was a victim of a sexual crime, was jogging along a trail near the intersection of Southwest 94th Street and Southwest 46th Boulevard when Payne, armed with a handgun, allegedly attacked and sexually assaulted the woman, leaving serious injuries.
Payne escaped from the scene in a small, four-door sedan before anyone knew what happened, said ASO Spokesman Art Forgey.
After four years of investigation, the ASO got a break in the case when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s crime lab released last week a report on DNA extracted from the crime scene.
Improved DNA technology over the past four years helped identify Payne, said Keith Vermillion, captain of Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy U.S. Marshall Bryon Carroll said based on DNA evidence, the ASO obtained an arrest warrant for Payne on Monday and submitted the case to the U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force due to Payne’s history of violence.
Investigators on Monday night determined Payne was living three hours north of Gainesville near Douglas, Ga.
On Tuesday morning, the task force, which consisted of eight investigators from Gainesville Police, ASO and the U.S. Marshals, drove to Georgia to link up with members of the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Carroll said Florida task force members determined Payne was staying in one of three possible locations.
After several hours of surveillance, investigators found Payne at a trailer on 51 Ivy Wood Drive in Willacoochee.
At about 10:15 a.m., about 20 investigators surrounded the trailer and ordered Payne to exit. He did not come out right away but walked out three minutes later and was arrested without incident, Carroll said.
“We’re just glad we were able to find him so quickly and get him into custody,” Carroll said. “Payne was known to be violent, and we deemed his case a priority.”
Payne was booked into the Coffee County Jail until he is taken to Alachua County Jail.
Contact Chris Alcantara at calcantara@alligator.org.
