After nearly 12 years, Orange County detectives say they have finally tied a suspect to the 2012 killing of a worker at the former China Wok on North Pine Hills Road, and the man they blame was already behind bars.
Investigators identified the suspect as Calvin Washington, who is serving a 30-year prison sentence in Ocala. Detectives said a fresh look at old evidence, combined with upgraded DNA testing, produced a match that led to an arrest warrant and new charges.
According to WESH, the Orange County Sheriff's Office reported that new DNA analysis tied Washington to items collected at the scene. Detectives told the outlet that clothing, gloves, and money recovered during the original investigation helped them link Washington to the robbery and fatal shooting. He now faces additional counts, including first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm, the station reports.
The killing dates back to Sept. 26, 2012, when deputies say a masked gunman walked into the China Wok at 2702 North Pine Hills Road and demanded cash from employees. The victim, identified in contemporaneous records as 53-year-old Ying Sun, was shot during the holdup and later pronounced dead at a local hospital, according to the Project Cold Case database and early local reporting. At the time, investigators said the robbers escaped with less than $100.
Detectives say they recently pulled the physical evidence back off the shelf and sent it for new testing, which they describe as providing a strong link to Washington, who had already been listed as a person of interest in the original probe. WESH reports that Washington was serving his 30-year sentence in Ocala when deputies secured the new warrant and took him into custody on the fresh charges. Officials say the case remains active while prosecutors comb through the file.
Legal process and next steps
Washington is now accused of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm, charges that carry some of the stiffest penalties in Florida if a jury returns a conviction. The Orange County Sheriff's Office said it has forwarded the case to prosecutors and urged anyone with information to reach out to detectives. Contact information is available on the Orange County Sheriff's Office website.
Prosecutors will decide whether to formally file the new counts after reviewing the arrest warrant, the DNA findings, and the rest of the investigative file.
Cold-case breakthrough
Authorities credited advances in DNA testing for finally moving the China Wok case forward, part of a wider trend in which improved forensic tools are breathing life into old files that once looked unsolvable. For a closer look at how genetic and forensic DNA techniques are reshaping cold-case work, see a peer-reviewed analysis hosted by PubMed Central.
"We are grateful for our detectives’ efforts to bring answers to the Sun family and to help ensure a violent criminal remains off our streets," the sheriff's office said in a statement. Investigators asked anyone with tips to call the Orange County Sheriff's Office tip line at (407) 836-4357.
