LAKE WALES, Fla. (WFLA) — Authorities arrested a man in connection with a double homicide from 1985 on Friday.
According to a news release, detectives from the Lake Wales Police Department along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the United states Marshals Service arrested Troy Adam Thorn, 62, for the brutal murders of Harvey and Margaret Bolser that took place 40 years ago.
The release said that the Bolser’s owned an apartment complex in Lake Wales called Swan Apartments, located at 241 E. Seminole Avenue. They had rented one of their units to Thorne and Samuel Edward Jones, 65.
On Feb. 28, 1985, police found the Bolsers murdered inside Thorne and Jones apartment which had also been set on fire. The two men were missing and considered suspects in their landlords murder.
They were arrested a few weeks later after a manhunt, and Jones was sentenced to life in prison where he currently remains at Zephyrhills Correctional Institution. Thorne was declared incompetent to stand trial and was held under involuntary examination at multiple facilities until his release in 1993.
In 2022, detectives launched a new investigation into the murders utilizing advancements in forensic technology that were not available at the time. After resubmitting original evidence from the crime scene to the FDLE crime lab, new DNA evidence was recovered.
According to detectives, they located Thorne who appeared to be living a “seemingly normal life” in Tampa. They said that since his release from treatment he had obtained a driver’s license, secured a mortgage to purchase a home, gotten married and fathered three children, and even filed police reports.
Additionally, detectives learned that Thorne had been arrested in Hillsborough County in 1995 for retail theft, to which he plead guilty and served a six month probation setence.
On Thursday, a Polk County Grand Jury indicted Thorne on two counts of first-degree premeditated murder and one count of arson. The next day the Polk County Police Department arrested him at his Tampa residence.
He is currently being held in the Polk County Jail with no bond.
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