(Orange County, FL) Today, State Attorney Bill Gladson of the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office announces the death penalty recommendation by jurors in the murder conviction of 59-year-old DeMorris Andy Hunter.

Last week, in the courtroom of Judge Lisa T. Munyon, prosecutors Richard Buxman and Kenneth Nunnelley presented the case against Hunter for the 2002 murder of 38-year-old Theresa Ann Green, securing a guilty verdict.

“These past two weeks have been grueling for the family and friends of the victim,” said Bill Gladson, the State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit. “Reliving the events that occurred on the night Green’s life was taken has been nothing short of tragic. I believe this is why the jurors have recommended the most appropriate punishment for the defendant, which is the death penalty.”

On May 26, 2002, Hunter and the victim were both guests at a party hosted by a couple in their apartment building. They left the party together, and witnesses saw them fall down the stairs before entering the victim’s apartment. Hours later, Hunter returned to the apartment and asked a neighbor for a favor. He gave the neighbor keys to a white van and requested that he follow him while he drove the victim’s car, dropping it off in a parking lot.

Officers with the Orlando Police Department received a missing persons report for Green. Shortly later, authorities with the Sanford Police Department located the victim’s car at a Walgreens and discovered her deceased body inside the trunk. The Medical Examiner’s Office determined the victim’s death to be a homicide by manual strangulation.

During the investigation, law enforcement was able to confirm the victim was last seen alive with the defendant. At the time they spoke to the defendant, Hunter was serving a 110-year sentence for another murder that occurred in Oakland, California.

“At only 13 years old, I was robbed of my mother’s presence, her support, and her irreplaceable love. While other children were leaning on their mothers for guidance, I was forced to navigate the most formative years of my life in the shadow of her absence,” stated Octavius Hayes, son of the victim. “Every milestone I have reached since then has been bittersweet, marked by the hollowed space where she should have been standing…. I ask this court to recognize the permanence of this loss, and the exhaustion of a lifetime spent seeking justice.”

The case was presented by Chief of Homicide Prosecution Richard Buxman and Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Nunnelley, who have worked tirelessly to pursue justice on behalf of the victims and the people of the great State of Florida.

Published on 04/16/2026.