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Arrest Made In 2006 Slaying Of North Port Girl

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Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: August 12, 2008

Updated: 08/12/2008 11:32 am

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Patrick Dewayne Murphy

NORTH PORT - North Port police have arrested Patrick Dewayne Murphy, 27, and charged him with the rape and slaying of 6-year-old Coralrose Fullwood, whose body was found Sept. 17, 2006, in a wooded lot a few blocks from her North Port home.

Murphy, of North Port, was charged with first-degree murder, sexual battery upon an child and aggravated kidnapping. He was booked into Sarasota County Jail.

North Port police Chief Terry Lewis announced the arrest this morning.

Police have long pointed to DNA evidence found on Coralrose's body as key to cracking the case.

Investigators have interviewed more than 1,000 people and followed hundreds of tips, and the department has one full-time detective working on the Coralrose case and little else.

Coralrose's father, Dale Fullwood, is in the Jackson Correctional Institution after pleading no contest last year of possessing child pornography, a felony. The pornography was found on Dale Fullwood's computer during the investigation into his daughter's death.

A year after the slaying, police publicly cleared Coralrose's mother, Ellen-Beth, and siblings, though authorities have never said unequivocally that Dale Fullwood was not a suspect in the case.

Murphy was sentenced in Charlotte County in January 2008 to two years in state prison for two charges of motor vehicle theft and one count of burglary of an occupied dwelling. He was released on a court order in February.

He has a tattoo of a devil on his right shoulder, according to Department of Corrections records, and a dragon on his left shoulder. He has a "tribal dragon" tattoo on his neck.

His uncle, Harold Murphy, in Kentucky, said he last saw his nephew about three or four years ago, when Patrick's father, Harold Murphy's brother, died of a heart attack at age 59 and there was a memorial service in Bowling Green.

"When he was growing up around here, he was a good kid," Harold Murphy said of his nephew. "I've always considered him a good kid. … Kids is always getting into mischief, but he was always the best one in the family."

"We're just not a troublesome people," Harold Murphy said of his family.

He said Patrick was the youngest of four, two by his father's first marriage and two by the second.

"I've never knowed him to get in trouble, other than stealing something and getting caught," Harold Murphy said.

Tampa Tribune reporter Elaine Silvestrini contributed to this report.

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