Deceased Florida deputy named suspect in 1983 rape, slaying

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — Florida detectives have identified a deceased former sheriff’s deputy as the only probable suspect in the rape and killing of an 11-year-old girl in 1983. Authorities released the information at a news conference Thursday. Lora Ann Huizar disappeared in November 1983 while walking home from a gas station. Her body was recovered nearby three days later. The suspect, then-St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputy James Howard Harrison died of cancer in 2008 at age 73. Brian Hester is chief deputy of the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office now. He says investigators established probable cause that Harrison abducted and raped Huizar and then put her in a drainage ditch in an effort to destroy evidence.