Apartment Horrors & Security Guard Betrayals

[Orlando, Florida]

Sasha Samsudean (27) was a social media manager for an Orlando realtor company. She was all about connecting people to the Orlando area and her outgoing personality was the perfect fit for the job. Her bubbly mannerisms and light, happy voice drew many people in to finding their dream home. “Sasha’s personality on camera matched her personality in real life” her friend, Anthony Roper, explained. As her life progressed, she moved into a downtown apartment in Orlando and was excited about independently living her life.

On October 16th, 2015, Sasha watched a soccer game with her friends and then celebrated at a club once her favorite team won. After a few hours of dancing, Sasha headed for the exit around 12:30am. Her friend, Anthony, said he was unsure if she was going home or going to venture off to another bar, but he didn’t question her moves because they often would split up and meet back up. However this time, she never came back and never contacted anyone ever again.

The following morning, Sasha had plans to eat breakfast with Anthony, but never arrived to enjoy the food. He initially assumed she was hungover and sleeping, but as multiple hours passed by and she still never replied, Anthony called some of her closest friends to help him check on her.

When the trio got to Sasha’s apartment, they discovered her car perfectly parked in the parking deck. A peek into her vehicle revealed that a baby shower gift was still sitting in the car untouched, although she had plans to attend the shower that day. This was an alarming sign for her friends. They walked to her apartment door and knocked, but there was no response.

The friends decided that police needed to investigate all of these signs. Therefore, officers were dispatched to her apartment.

The police were accompanied by the apartment’s main security guard, Stephen Duxbury, as they entered her apartment.

When one officer walked into her bedroom area, he noticed dark, long hair dangling off the bed and a hand sticking outside of the comforter. The thick blanket was wrapped around her body, but lifted up just enough to expose strangulation marks on Sasha’s neck. Her bra and shirt were also ripped open, suggesting that there was a sexual nature to the crime. The medical examiner’s report found unknown male DNA on her body. Ultimately, her cause of death was confirmed as strangulation.

When CSI and detectives analyzed the crime scene, they discovered Sasha’s purse, phone and key fob were missing. There was also an unusual smell of cleaning supplies and a cabinet of hers containing cleaning supplies that was left open. In the bathroom, investigators found 2 fingerprints under the toilet seat. Seeing as Sasha was a female, it was odd that there were fingerprints under the toilet seat unless a male was there lifting up the seat. Oddly enough, there was no sign of forced entry, so police were considering factors such as if she knew the male suspect.

Police asked Stephen Duxbury for the security cameras that were monitoring the apartment that night. There were around 15 different cameras pinpointed in different areas, but the camera footage was stored off sight and would take time to recover.

According to the guard, on the night of her disappearance around 3am, he saw her try to enter the apartment. He was sweeping the hallways when he noticed she was extremely intoxicated and struggling to get to her apartment. Her feet slapped the ground loudly as she walked and she stumbled from each side of the hallway. Therefore, he decided to escort her to her door. From there, he said his shift ended at 6am in the morning and he was unaware of further details.

A few days passed and investigators were finally able to gain access to the video footage inside Sasha’s apartment building. The surveillance cameras documented Sasha running around the corner and quickly climbing up the stairwell at 2:06am. As the footage continues to play, it showed the security guard, Stephen Duxbury, following closely behind her.

Investigators continuously watched hours of footage until they stumbled upon more activity at 6:36am. Stephen was seen carrying 2 white trash bags out of the door toward the second floor parking garage. These findings contradicted his original statement that his shift ended at 6am. In addition to this hole in his story, the trash bags matched the same style of trash bags inside Sasha’s apartment — white with a red trim. When reviewing Stephen’s documented security reports, police noticed that he usually never did trash patrol either. Why that night? Even more digging was proving to be worrisome for Stephen. It revealed that after 5am, he searched the internet for how to defeat a lock — the same type of lock used for Sasha’s apartment.

Stephen Duxbury was taken to police headquarters and agreed to a polygraph test. When he was asked if he ever entered Sasha’s apartment, the needle noticeably jumped. Additionally, he was asked if Sasha was stabbed and he answered with a “no.” He passed that question. When he was asked if she was choked, the needle jumped again, showing major reactions. At one point during the test, Stephen took the time to turn to the lie detector administrator and ask “is my heart rate still high?” He knew his alibi was crumbling by the second.

With the help of forensic tools such as DNA testing and fingerprint analysis, investigators were able to determine that Stephen Duxbury was officially their suspect. His DNA matched and his fingerprints matched. On October 30th, 2015, he was officially arrested and charged with her murder.

The motive for the crime was deemed to be sexual once Stephen noticed Sasha was intoxicated and vulnerable. With her alcohol level sitting at .229, he waited until she was passed out drunk to break into the one place she was supposed to have full safety. He strangled and attempted to rape her.

In November 2017, a jury found Stephen Duxbury guilty of first-degree murder, attempted sexual battery, and burglary. Judge Lisa Munyon sentenced Duxbury to life in prison without parole and an additional 15 years for the burglary.