OH OH - William 'Bill' Comeans, 14, Columbus, 7 Jan 1980 - #1

RainyAlaska said:

Going, any idea why the assailants would drug their victim when the strangulation was so brutal? I'm trying to understand the motivation for the Valium. Since there were two attackers, maybe one was the possible psychopath and the other was a little more humane? Or did they want Bill to be dazed so he was easier to control? The drugging has me stumped.

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I think that Bill got ahold of the valium himself because he was not only being tortured physically, but mentally. This was an evil game of cat and mouse. This poor child was living in sheer terror. They must have threatened to kill one of his family members if he didn't comply. You know, I really believe this one is going to get solved. The one older, known classmate criminal is in jail. Where is the other one today? Sorry if I missed that in the thread....

bob6104 said:

He was dead when we found him. I was giving him mouth to mouth. The only reason he went to the hospital was because we started CPR, so EMS took over and transported. Otherwise it would have been a body, crime scene tape, pictures, and evidence collection. The scene was chaos. IMO

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Thank you for that important info, Bob.
My deepest condolences, along with admiration for you and the family enduring both loss of Bill and years of pain to follow.
Your post details are virtually exactly as I had thought.

I realize it's hard, even after many years, but the more detailed info you can provide on any/every area of this case, then the much greater ability for valid direction & focusing on correct paths, and less "unguided speculation".
Even things that likely seem insignificant to you, may be a huge piece of info, in order to focus in the right direction.

As far as the valium... very important missing details are:
1. When was the autopsy actually performed? How much delay since death?
2. Was it a complete autopsy? Or just a medical exam of the pertinent body areas along with a toxicology blood test?
3. What was the exact level found in his blood, and if at the time of abduction/death was it determined at a level to produce what effect(s) on him?

IMO, I'm going to avoid purely speculating on the valium. I need more info. For all we know it may later show that only a slight insignificant trace of diazepam (valium) was found in his blood. In any case, I'd tend to go in the direction that the perps weren't the ones that gave it to him.

RainyAlaska said:

Going, any idea why the assailants would drug their victim when the strangulation was so brutal? I'm trying to understand the motivation for the Valium. Since there were two attackers, maybe one was the possible psychopath and the other was a little more humane? Or did they want Bill to be dazed so he was easier to control? The drugging has me stumped.

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If they did, my thought from the beginning of the thread was that it made it easier for them to subdue and gain control over Bill - as you suggest in the second part of your question, Rainy. I don't think there would have been any humanity in the choice. I see it as a possible reason for what appears to be Bill's lack of struggle - and why he seems to have been so easily overcome. I also see it as a possible explanation for the 5/6-hour blackout after the second attack - tho we can only arrive at the drug being used then based on it being in his blood after the third attack - and for why Bill seemed to be what I can only call 'fuzzy on the details' after his attacks. It's not an uncommon choice among depraved killers ... More curious to me is how they administered it if this is the case. I think use of the drug may support the 'psychopath experimentation' theory because it may have made it easier for his killer to 'focus on the kill.' I agree with methodical that how much matters ... But I also wonder if the timing of the tox screen could influence the resulting blood levels. I don't know enough to say. JMO - Sorry for any typos ... Posting from my phone.

It seems like if someone attacked you from behind and tried to strangle you there would be lots of evidence of struggle, such as your feet kicking into the dirt, etc. Could one of the assailants maybe gotten him on the ground somehow so that Bill had less leverage to struggle?
My high school in the 80s had those lockers with the vents too. Very easy to slip things into lockers and most of us kids did use the vents to pass notes to each other. It only took a second to slip something into a locker. Sometimes my friends and I pranked each other this way too. Or worse yet, we'd find one of those dreaded chain letters in our lockers that we had to pass on to 7 more people. All a person would have to know was Bill's locker number and its general location, pass by, reach up and slip the note in. It would only take a second or two.

Hello everybody. I'm new to this forum. I joined because of Bill Comeans' tweets ... heartbreaking. I hope the new detective starts soon and interviews everybody. Even after so many years this can be worthwhile.

My two cents about valium: taken as a pill, it takes up to 30 minutes to be effective. I fail to see how this can be of use to the attackers.
Valium is also available as an injectable, inhalation or in rectal forms. It works more rapidly, but in any case the attackers would have to subdue Bill first, all without being seen by him.
I think the valium belonged to Bill, maybe someone gave it to him.

ZaZara said:

Hello everybody. I'm new to this forum. I joined because of Bill Comeans' tweets ... heartbreaking. I hope the new detective starts soon and interviews everybody. Even after so many years this can be worthwhile.

My two cents about valium: taken as a pill, it takes up to 30 minutes to be effective. I fail to see how this can be of use to the attackers.
Valium is also available as an injectable, inhalation or in rectal forms. It works more rapidly, but in any case the attackers would have to subdue Bill first, all without being seen by him.
I think the valium belonged to Bill, maybe someone gave it to him.

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Hi, ZaZara --

You may be right. Also, you may have a better source for this than I do.

Wikipedia says 15-30 minutes for intramuscular admin and only says this for oral admin: "When administered orally, it is rapidly absorbed and has a fast onset of action." and "Peak plasma levels occur between 30 and 90 minutes after oral administration ..."

A couple of other points of interest:

• Peak use in the U.S. was 1978, so in pill form, it would likely have been in many local medicine cabinets. It would have been readily prescribed for many conditions by both medical doctors and psychiatrists, particularly for anxiety. (I venture to say there would have been some in the Tope household.)

• The army gives it to servicemen in auto-injectors for use against chemical and nerve agents, but I don't know how far back the practice goes or whether auto-injectors would have been available at that time.

• It's not typically prescribed for those under 18, but again, I'm unsure this was the case in the late 70s.

• An example of the use of drugs by a depraved killer is Larry Eyler, cited in an earlier post. He killed at least two boys in a similar style to BC ("in 1981, he was arrested for drugging a 14-year-old boy and dumping him unconscious in the woods near Greencastle, Indiana.")

The Wikipedia page is cited in post 148.


As you suggest, not being prescribed by his doctor or used by his family does of course present other possibilities than its use by the killers. However, the blackout on the second attack strongly pulls me in the direction of him being given it involuntarily. JMO

I will summarize some of my thoughts so far. Keyword is "some", as there are many.

1. Physical evidence: What exactly does LE have in storage? Do they have the garbage bag, inner tube, etc? from the 1st attack? (I would guess not, as I don't believe they took this event with any seriousness in the least, or credibility as Bill reported it). Again, without family's confirmation, not even sure when or if it was reported to LE.

However IF they had these pieces of evidence, it would be a quick simple process to subject them to cyanoacrylate (super glue) fuming to obtain latent fingerprints. Both the plastic bag & the rubber inner tube are some of the best materials to hold prints.
Back in 1979 this method of obtaining fingerprints wasn't used. It was first introduced to local LE depts a few years later (early to mid 80's). In 1979 only the much less effective traditional "dusting" with fingerprint powder was in use.

2. The 2nd attack on Oct 22, 1979 at approx 6:30 PM. Location: Beacon Hill Rd at Maple Dr.
This event really troubles me, with the given info.
Bill claimed to have gone 5 1/2 to 6 hrs unconscious after this approx 6:30 PM attack. This was where the attackers used a rope to administer strangulation. (BTW, most rope would be virtually impossible to obtain good prints from). This location is very public & "out in the open", and Beacon Hill Rd is one of the "main" side-streets that feeds all the north/south side-streets in at least 2 larger neighborhoods/subdivisions.
Viewing that location on Google street view, even considering the 34 years that passed, I cannot see how there would have been dense enough "landscaping/bushes" that would prevent discovery of BC's unconscious body over a 6 hr time frame. Granted, about 5 hrs would have been dark, however there would have been close to 1 hour of light after the initial attack.

I believe both vehicular traffic as well as common foot traffic (back in that era) would have seen anyone lying in such a location, especially before darkness. For these reasons, I'm having a hard time placing full credibility in BC's story on this particular event. That, plus my strong belief that BC was not forthcoming when he claimed to not have seen his attackers faces (or give any meaningful description). Therefore, at this point, without further details/evidence, I believe this 6 hr "unconscious event" is likely fabricated to deflect away from an undisclosed, but very significant event. One thing is certain tho, he did return home with obvious rope burns on his neck & broken blood capillaries in his face due to a severe strangulation attempt.

3. Attack #3 & resulting murder on Jan 7, 1980 at approx 9:00 PM.
Again, specifically what evidence did LE gather and store from the scene?
Did LE even return to the scene and protect the scene to do a thorough search for evidence? I realize much of the evidence at the scene was destroyed by the many neighbors & people who trampled the immediate area to try to help BC & his family members. However, being as there was some snow cover, LE would have been neglectful to not return and look at least at the periphery of the scene for shoe prints or "tossed items". Again, fingerprints off the reported knife (and any other objects) at the scene would be extremely valuable today.

Although there was never any reported sign of a struggle, did the coroner ever take any fingernail scrapings at BC's autopsy? It's hard to imagine any strangulation victim not having grabbed/grasped at his attackers while undergoing strangulation. Fingernail scrapings very often hold key DNA evidence, especially in "contact" attacks.

4. The MO (modus operandi)... always strangulation with the use of ligature tools.
The "tools" used were: plastic bag, rubber inner tube, rope, & BC's own scarf.
The initial drawback, by the attackers, in using these "tools" is that it takes time. Time which allows ample time for the victim to fight, struggle, and very forcefully resist. That works against the attacker, even multiple attackers.

I think it is more than likely these "tools" were only used AFTER BC was rendered semi-conscious. I surmise that he would have been initially choked by bare hands to the point of semi-consciousness, then the tools were simply used to "maintain" the choking restriction on his windpipe. Regardless of these partially unsubstantiated details, I believe with the evidence presented so far, the intention by the attackers was always death, rather than just a "scare tactic".

Again, this is just my opinion based on the very limited details we know so far.

Original post TBM:

Methodical said:

I will summarize some of my thoughts so far. Keyword is "some", as there are many.

1. Physical evidence: What exactly does LE have in storage? Do they have the garbage bag, inner tube, etc? from the 1st attack? (I would guess not, as I don't believe they took this event with any seriousness in the least, or credibility as Bill reported it). Again, without family's confirmation, not even sure when or if it was reported to LE.

However IF they had these pieces of evidence, it would be a quick simple process to subject them to cyanoacrylate (super glue) fuming to obtain latent fingerprints. Both the plastic bag & the rubber inner tube are some of the best materials to hold prints.
Back in 1979 this method of obtaining fingerprints wasn't used. It was first introduced to local LE depts a few years later (early to mid 80's). In 1979 only the much less effective traditional "dusting" with fingerprint powder was in use.

...

3. Attack #3 & resulting murder on Jan 7, 1980 at approx 9:00 PM.
Again, specifically what evidence did LE gather and store from the scene?
Did LE even return to the scene and protect the scene to do a thorough search for evidence? I realize much of the evidence at the scene was destroyed by the many neighbors & people who trampled the immediate area to try to help BC & his family members. However, being as there was some snow cover, LE would have been neglectful to not return and look at least at the periphery of the scene for shoe prints or "tossed items". Again, fingerprints off the reported knife (and any other objects) at the scene would be extremely valuable today.

Although there was never any reported sign of a struggle, did the coroner ever take any fingernail scrapings at BC's autopsy? It's hard to imagine any strangulation victim not having grabbed/grasped at his attackers while undergoing strangulation. Fingernail scrapings very often hold key DNA evidence, especially in "contact" attacks.

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I enjoyed that post, Methodical -- the whole thing, even though I am only responding to part of it here. FWIW, I think you're asking good, thought-provoking questions.

Some tidbits on evidence collected from MSM and the family’s tweets appear in post 154, but I’m bringing the relevant info forward below. You may have already incorporated this info into your thinking, but it’s all I can think of to contribute to your question.

EVIDENCE

Medical Report​

• Bill sees a doctor after the second assault, and his physician sees signs that Bill was choked (the choking caused blood vessels in his face to rupture).

Final Crime Scene​

• Knife, beer bottle, and scarf from murder scene sent to crime lab in London, OH.
• Family: "Franklin County Sheriff Cold Case unit has files, evidence, the scarf, statements, the butcher knife, pictures, DNA sample, everything."
• FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Lab and NYPD both perform "personality analyses,” using interviews with relatives, friends, and school officials, to determine "personality traits and habits" of the victim (a handwriting sample is included).
• Trace DNA found on scarf, awaiting release of new testing procedure that will better preserve sample (test was expected for release in Jan. 2013, but has not yet materialized).

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According to the 4/23/80 Columbus Dispatch, detectives also have the notes found at school.

BTW, earlier you asked why the autopsy report seemed to come back so late. I have the sense that it may have been completed earlier than it was released, but that local LE was awaiting confirmation on their findings from consults it requested before going public. In the media reports, they claim to have treated the case as a homicide the whole time, but there was some internal dispute over the possibility of suicide. Supporting details:

• When the finding of “homicide” is released on 4/23/80, the Columbus Citizen quotes coroner Adrion as saying, “the case was ‘very bizarre’ and required lengthy investigation.”

• It’s the Columbus Dispatch of the same date that explains the details of that lengthy investigation: processing by the FBI of a “personality analysis” and “information packet,” the latter made up of “information from the youths’s friends, relatives and school officials about his personality traits and his habits,” plus a handwriting sample from BC. Also, both the FBI and NYPD were consulted on the question of suicide and negated that possibility as of this date (April 1980).

I think this "3rd party validation" allowed them to declare the formal finding of homicide on 4/23/80 (even though they reverse themselves in 9/1981).

One thing that continues to trouble me about this case is silence. In the first two attacks we hear nothing about Bill reporting anything his attackers may have said to him. IMO, complete silence -- given the two-assailant scenario, seems very unlikely. I would expect at least minimal chatter between them. Also, I would expect some direction to control Bill in the moment ("shut up" - "lie down" - "don't make a sound"), or to prevent Bill from revealing the identity of his attackers (e.g., the speculated threats that kept him quiet).

Bob6104 or KatCo, did Bill ever relay anything his assailants said to him during the first two attacks? Anything at all?

He never made any mention of what attackers may have said to him in either of the first two events. After the second attack, when he was missing for hours, he finally knocked on the front door, I looked out and it was him. It was wet, and possibly rainy outside that night, but his clothes were dry. I asked him and he said he had been tossed under a large bush. Theories on that aspect?

BOB. Did Bill ever mention anybody that was giving him trouble at school? Or from the neighbourhood? Can you remember Bill talking about anybody or any other incidents? Do you remember who Bill's best friend/s would have been? Can we get talking to them? Did Bill have a girlfriend?

Methodical said:

2. The 2nd attack on Oct 22, 1979 at approx 6:30 PM. Location: Beacon Hill Rd at Maple Dr.
This event really troubles me, with the given info.
Bill claimed to have gone 5 1/2 to 6 hrs unconscious after this approx 6:30 PM attack. This was where the attackers used a rope to administer strangulation. (BTW, most rope would be virtually impossible to obtain good prints from). This location is very public & "out in the open", and Beacon Hill Rd is one of the "main" side-streets that feeds all the north/south side-streets in at least 2 larger neighborhoods/subdivisions.
Viewing that location on Google street view, even considering the 34 years that passed, I cannot see how there would have been dense enough "landscaping/bushes" that would prevent discovery of BC's unconscious body over a 6 hr time frame. Granted, about 5 hrs would have been dark, however there would have been close to 1 hour of light after the initial attack.

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So ... this made me think of an alternative scenario to the one I think we've been imagining. On the premise that the story of the car is true, what if BC was abducted from this site and later dumped back in the shrubbery? I am reading through the MSM reports again to see if we get any more clarity on this, but I am not finding details that make it certain he spent the 5/6 hours at this actual location.

I had the above half-written more than an hour ago, when my daughter called to video chat from the other side of the country. We just finished, and I saw Bob's reply above to the question of dialogue:

bob6104 said:

He never made any mention of what attackers may have said to him in either of the first two events. After the second attack, when he was missing for hours, he finally knocked on the front door, I looked out and it was him. It was wet, and possibly rainy outside that night, but his clothes were dry. I asked him and he said he had been tossed under a large bush. Theories on that aspect?

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I wonder, does this potentially validate him being held, possibly drugged, elsewhere during this time, then being dumped while still "out"? Held possibly in a vehicle or other location? Mind boggling: You would think then at that point he would still get wet if the large bush was wet. The language "tossed under a large bush" -- is that your language, Bob, or his? Because that sounds to me like it could suggest "tossed from a vehicle."

GoingByMyGut said:

Hi, ZaZara --

You may be right. Also, you may have a better source for this than I do.

Wikipedia says 15-30 minutes for intramuscular admin and only says this for oral admin: "When administered orally, it is rapidly absorbed and has a fast onset of action." and "Peak plasma levels occur between 30 and 90 minutes after oral administration ..."

A couple of other points of interest:

• Peak use in the U.S. was 1978, so in pill form, it would likely have been in many local medicine cabinets. It would have been readily prescribed for many conditions by both medical doctors and psychiatrists, particularly for anxiety. (I venture to say there would have been some in the Tope household.)

• The army gives it to servicemen in auto-injectors for use against chemical and nerve agents, but I don't know how far back the practice goes or whether auto-injectors would have been available at that time.

• It's not typically prescribed for those under 18, but again, I'm unsure this was the case in the late 70s.

• An example of the use of drugs by a depraved killer is Larry Eyler, cited in an earlier post. He killed at least two boys in a similar style to BC ("in 1981, he was arrested for drugging a 14-year-old boy and dumping him unconscious in the woods near Greencastle, Indiana.")

The Wikipedia page is cited in post 148.


As you suggest, not being prescribed by his doctor or used by his family does of course present other possibilities than its use by the killers. However, the blackout on the second attack strongly pulls me in the direction of him being given it involuntarily. JMO

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If you want to subdues someone using valium or make them pass out, you will need a high dosage and the effects will last longer than 5 or 6 hours, namely 20 to 100 hours.
A blackout can also be a consequence of unconsciouness itself, you don't need valium for that, it would be extra.

I used to know two brothers who stole pills from their granny. They would pass by the bathroom and rummage through the bottles. One of the guys was trainig to be a nurse and he would look up if the stuff was any good as a sleeping pill. The grandmother was a bit confused and did not notice, but they made sure never to take too much and (as far as I know) they never took medication in a controlled situation like a pharmacy or the hospital. They were also known to posess stuff that their mother claimed they could not possibly have.

IMHO whatever happened during that mysterious second attack, valium wasn't the major part of it or anyt part at all.

Warning! Warning! Post Goes Nowhere! Lots of Blather Ahead!

So, I’m really struggling with this question: Is Bill telling the truth?

I think that local LE assigned to the investigation in 1979/80 dealt with the perplexity of this case by choosing to dismiss Bill’s story over all -- at least, that seems to be the case as of Sept. 1981 when they came out with their theory of accidental self-strangulation via auto-erotic asphyxiation. However, I think internal conflict over suicide/homicide validates that this was the case even earlier than that. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this was an injustice done to Bill, and I personally don’t want to repeat that, even in part, so I am approaching the question of his truthfulness with caution.

When I look to Bill himself, I see a good kid:

• If he is experiencing inner turmoil, it doesn’t show in his grades or his family relationships, even after the first two attacks. From the little we know, he doesn’t seem to have been hanging with “the wrong crowd.” No one appears to have noticed any sudden changes in his friendships; there’s been no “makeover” in his appearance; and he is not rebelling or defying authority at home or in school. A Sept. 1981 MSN report states that, while the coroner’s report showed valium in Bill’s blood post mortem, police saw no evidence of drugs or drug use in their investigation of Bill’s life prior to that point. All outward signs point to a sweet innocence, as yet untainted by adolescence.

• After the first attack on Sept. 5, Bill and his parents reported the attack to police. I assume they did this right away, because police responded to the scene Bill described (the woods behind Prairie-Lincoln Elementary School) in time to find his bike, the inner tube, the garbage bag, and a note (“He was warned.”).

• In spite of getting what the family describes as an unsatisfactory response from LE in Sept., they reported the second attack on Oct. 22 to police as well. This time, Bill also sees a doctor and submits to a polygraph exam.

• At some point during this period, Bill and his family hand the locker notes over to police, and police take a handwriting sample from Bill to rule him out as the writer of notes.

IMO, the above details demonstrate a very high level of cooperation. Bill had to have been questioned multiple times by his parents and various LE personnel, including detectives with the FBI. And yet we have heard nothing about Bill resisting his parents wishes to report the incident. Nothing about him arguing against seeing a doctor. And nothing about him arguing to keep the notes private. Nor have we heard anything that says what he said about these events varied with who he told the story to -- or even over this four-month interval. On the contrary, while the circumstances he has left us with are incredibly perplexing, his story seems to be consistent.

Several posters have made a reasonable claim that Bill may have known his attackers, even though Bill maintained that he did not. I can’t help wondering, if this is the case, why Bill gave no pushback on cooperating with his family or police. If he was warned by his assailants during the first attack not to reveal their identities, wouldn’t they also warn him not to go to police -- if not the first time, at least by the second time? If they threatened his family, didn't Bill think going to the police might tick them off? And yet, Bill continues to cooperate with police ... continues to claim he was attacked ... and continues to deny he knew his assailants.

Bill had the choice of whether to tell this tale at all. Why didn’t he make up a story that didn’t involve attackers? Why didn’t he blame what happened to him on something he did himself? Why include a car at all?

I am aware that dishonesty can be a factor in a victim report. In fact, this is just the kind of case in which a victim might try to hide an assailant’s identity! But how do we know, without recourse to questioning Bill himself, what to keep and what to dismiss? How do we know that the thing we discard won’t actually be the key to the case? I find it interesting that even when we have discussed discarding this detail or that detail, the case has become no less perplexing!

It is certainly is a challenge to find a solution that works with all of the information at hand. But since LE has already walked the path of disbelieving Bill entirely, maybe he deserves the full benefit of the doubt this time around.

If something is to be dismissed, I would like to see an evidentiary basis for doing so. In fact, I REALLY wish we could find a way to investigate the car!

GoingByMyGut said:

So ... this made me think of an alternative scenario to the one I think we've been imagining. On the premise that the story of the car is true, what if BC was abducted from this site and later dumped back in the shrubbery? I am reading through the MSM reports again to see if we get any more clarity on this, but I am not finding details that make it certain he spent the 5/6 hours at this actual location.

I had the above half-written more than an hour ago, when my daughter called to video chat from the other side of the country. We just finished, and I saw Bob's reply above to the question of dialogue:



I wonder, does this potentially validate him being held, possibly drugged, elsewhere during this time, then being dumped while still "out"? Held possibly in a vehicle or other location? Mind boggling: You would think then at that point he would still get wet if the large bush was wet. The language "tossed under a large bush" -- is that your language, Bob, or his? Because that sounds to me like it could suggest "tossed from a vehicle."

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BBM-this is what I was thinking, too-that he may have awakened only after he was taken from a dry place, and put out under the shrubbery

Bob6104 or KatCo, I am going through old notes trying to catch things we may have overlooked so am going to shoot some random questions your way. I'm going to put them in blue so they stand out for you. Apologies in advance for the disconnectness of them.

Did you ever learn the result of LE's handwriting analyses of the notes? Did LE find any connection between those left at school and those sent by AJ Tope?

Did Bill first receive notes in his locker before or after the first attack? Where I live, 9/5/79 -- the first Wed. after Labor Day -- would have been the first day of school. Did you all start earlier? I am just wondering if someone unrelated could have subsequently written those notes to play on his fear about the attack. School for us usually started the week before Labor Day. I don't know if he rec'd the notes before the first attack... I would venture to say no. Bob would know better.

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Bob, Kat (in red above) deferred to you on this earlier question from me.

GBMG,, Every one is an excellent question and each is "one of thousands" of unknown details that is needed to know, in order to proceed with any accuracy.

I've been trying to think of the best method for Bob & KatCo to assemble & communicate complete & highly detailed full accounts in various stages of this case. Perhaps a highly detailed & highly descriptive "diary", broken down into many sub-catagories, such as:
Pre attack #1
Attack #1
Post Attack #1 to Pre Attack #2
etc, etc.

The key here is not overlooking ANY detail, no matter how insignificant it may seem to the family.
Examples: When they described the final night, it was said "Bill came 2 doors down to get me from the birthday party".
It's important to know "missing" details such as 2 houses north or south? Same side of street (as presumed)? Describe lighting, down to the utmost detail, on their front yard area, the "birthday party" house, and all around & in-between. Etc, etc. (not limited to only what I listed)

Another example: Bill was found in ditch by tree near RR tracks, with scarf tied tight around his neck.
Was the knot in front, side, or back of his neck? If on side, which side? Was he directly under a tree? How long were the "loose ends" of the scarf? Was there any sign the scarf ends had previously been tied to the tree or limb? Did you notice any debris in the scarf ends, such as small pieces of tree bark or other debris? Exactly where was he found? (not just an approx "X" on a zoomed out aerial view.

My point here is, for any success in determining a proper direction, or success in gathering additional info, every facet of any event or scene must be described in the highest of detail. These details that one person may consider totally insignificant, actually may present to be the utmost in value to a skilled detective.
In simple terms, the quality & detailed-ness we are provided... is directly related to the chance of success in solving this case.

Personally, I think once 2 years goes by on any cold case, then LE should make publicly available all police reports and information, excluding actual suspects. Physical evidence must always be kept sealed/stored & protected from public hands, however.

Text Added...
RE: GBMG's Post #334 heading:

Warning! Warning! Post Goes Nowhere! Lots of Blather Ahead!

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You have some of the best "blather", GBMG! Keep it coming!