State Attorney Brian Haas started a new tradition at the State Attorney’s Office yesterday. At our annual awards ceremony, some special law enforcement officers were recognized who – in the past year – have gone above and beyond the call of duty to serve our community.

“We are blessed in the tenth circuit to have many wonderful officers and deputies. Each day and night they put on their uniforms to protect us, not knowing if they’ll ever return home,” State Attorney Haas said. “They investigate cases and do not give up until every lead is pursued and every angle is worked.”

Polk County Sheriff’s Office Detective Matthew Newbold was honored for his work on the Carl McCauley case.

When Charles Watson Sr. got home from work on Mar. 24, 1987, he found his wife stabbed to death on their couch.

Karen Ann Watson, 41, of Lake Wales, was sexually battered and brutally murdered the day before her twin sons’ 16th birthday. Nearly 30 years passed before her family saw the case come to a close.

Karen Watson was getting ready to leave her home off Old Polk City Road and head to work. Watson and her eldest son, Charles Watson Jr., worked at Disney, and she was known to leave her house at exactly 1 p.m. to make it on time.

Watson called her son about 12:30 p.m. She was at home alone getting ready for work.

It wasn’t until just past 1 p.m. until a neighbor started to suspect something was wrong.

The neighbor drove past Watson’s home, she noticed a few things that didn’t sit right with her: Watson’s car was still in the driveway, and a vehicle she’d never seen before was parked on the road in front of the house.

The neighbor looked up in the rear view mirror and saw a man run from one side of the road, past the car, and make a beeline for the front of that trailer. That man was not the victim’s husband.

The victim’s husband got home about 1:30 p.m. to find his wife slumped over on their couch with blood spatter on the wall behind her and on the carpet in front of her. She’d been stabbed 11 times in her torso, neck, throat and face and had pierced internal organs.

When law enforcement arrived – in addition to the blood found on and around the couch – they found specks of blood and other bodily fluids on Watson’s bed. But because DNA science was still new in the late 1980s, they were unable to identify whose fluids were found.

The case went cold.

The Watson case was a 27-year-old cold case when Detective Matt Newbold opened the file.

Newbold met with Assistant State Attorney John Waters to discuss the case. At the first meeting, Newbold told John that he’d solved the case.

In 1998, a DNA profile was obtained from the victim’s husband., and he was ruled out as a suspect. It wasn’t until 2014 that Newbold found McCauley in Ohio and sat him down for an interview.

Newbold solved the case, with good, old-fashioned detective work.

He flew to Ohio a few times, and I’m told He has a horrible fear of flying, but he was willing to risk life and limb and sanity.

When Newbold interviewed Carl McCauley, he denied knowing Watson, being intimate with her or ever being in her house, yet his DNA was a complete match.

Newbold got denial after denial from McCauley and crazy explanations out of him – so much so that the evidence in trial was used to prove he was lying.

According to John Waters, “That was what put the nails in the coffin,” “It wasn’t a “confession” but was as good or better because we could prove he was lying.”

Newbold was fully involved with the case. He had an amazing ability to relate to the victim’s family and helped them get through it.”

When solving a case from 1987, modern detective skills and forensic science is helpful, but this one was solved by getting out there and beating the bushes.

John Waters said, “it is without a doubt the best detective work I’ve ever seen.”

Newbold sat with our prosecutors through the two-week trial, his involvement during the trial phase was invaluable.

After only four hours of deliberation following a two-week trial, Carl McCauley, 67, was found guilty of first-degree murder and sexual battery. He was immediately sentenced to life for both counts by Judge Harb.

Detective Newbold’s tenacity and passion was unbelievable. Because of his work and those who worked with him at the sheriff’s office and our homicide prosecutors, John Waters, Kristie Ducharme and Hope Pattey, Carl McCauley will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Without Matt Newbold, a killer would still be living in freedom and Watson’s family wouldn’t have the closure they now have.