FL FL - 'Fort Myers 8' (1 now UID) WhtMales Buried in Woods, Mar'07

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Would individual #7 have been a more recent body since they were able to identify or test dna to determine race?
 
reportertype said:
We were told that some of the remains appeared to have been transients or drifters based on their dentals.
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Conahan preyed on men that no one would notice missing, but I wouldn't be surprised if the bodies came from a funeral home that didn't want bother with "formalities."
 
Just a quick thought, if it was a funeral home doing this, what are the chances all eight would be male and not one single female. I was just thinking that if that was the case surely there would be at least one right?
 
Hmm, no females is a good point. Could just be a coincidence. I know there are some crematoriums around and I think -- could be remembering this wrong -- that under Fla. law crematoriums aren't supposed to have any services. I wonder if they were disposed of by some place like that? I agree with RR that's a possibility.

I also think Conahan, or someone like him, is a strong possibility as well. I haven't read too much on him. All I know is he preyed on men, including transient types and trolled for men frequently. I know they suspect he has many more victims than he was connected to.

Hard to say. I'll be interested to find out more about these remains, especially if any are ID'd.
 
reportertype said:
I also think Conahan, or someone like him, is a strong possibility as well. I haven't read too much on him. All I know is he preyed on men, including transient types and trolled for men frequently. I know they suspect he has many more victims than he was connected to.

Hard to say. I'll be interested to find out more about these remains, especially if any are ID'd.
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He is also my guess for the reasons you listed above. I haven't read about him in a little while, but from what I remember he had a variety of dumping grounds and is suspected to have killed many more than they were able to prove. I am going to go to crimelibrary and refresh my memory.
 
If it were a funeral home just dumping victims, they most likely would have also been alot older in age and different sexes.
Sounds like a serial killer's dumping grounds. Maybe he started off with a transient to see if he could get away with it and then graduated.
Aside from the one, the others seem to have had kept up with dental work. I wonder if a lot of men during the time range were reported missing from Florida?
How tall and big is Conahan? All these men were of average to taller height. I'm thinking if it was Conahan he either would overpower them or find away to make them cooperative. If we can narrow it down to any fitting a missing description maybe someone saw him with one of the men; if not maybe rule him out..
 
<modsnip: broken link>

All eight of the skeletons found March 23 in Lee County were white, adult males whose bodies were nude, just like the five victims detectives believe were murdered in the mid-1990s by convicted Charlotte County serial killer Daniel O. Conahan Jr.

The eight Lee County skeletons appeared to have been placed, not buried -- a detail consistent with Conahan's victims, whose bodies were laid out on their backs with their arms out to their sides as if in a "presentation," as one state criminal profiler had concluded.

None of the eight skeletons showed obvious signs of homicidal trauma, such as bullet wounds -- just like Conahan's Charlotte victims, who were believed to have been strangled.

And all eight were found in a wooded, undeveloped area of Fort Myers -- within less than a mile of where at least one of Conahan's victims escaped in 1994, according to court records.
 
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That I do not know - just trying to help out here with what little true facts that I can.
 
www.nbcnews.com

Gruesome mystery of eight skeletons in a forest

On the morning of March 23rd, around 10 o'clock, Detective Sgt. Jennifer Soto received a phone call that would lead her and other officers into a dark forest, and involve them in an unsettling mystery.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

Identificiation the key
Most frustrating for police is that they have not yet been able to identify any of the eight victims. Investigators believe once they learn the name of just one person the case will accelerate.

"We've got to figure out who these people were before we can move forward," said Soto. "Were they all connected? Did these eight people know each other, or were they simply random people who had no interlinkings?"

At the medical examiner's office, Walsh-Haney, the forensic anthropologist, analyzed the skeletal remains in order to come up with the sex and estimated ages of the victims.

From the bones, experts are now gathering DNA samples, while other specialists are measuring the skulls in order to build models that attempt to replicate the victims' faces.

"What that first identification will do for us in terms of the investigation is give us a name," Walsh-Haney said. "With that name come family members and friends who may have known where this individual was when he was last seen."

Police are asking the public for help, and are urging anyone with a missing relative who matches the descriptions and time frame of the case to contact them. They may be asked to give a cheek DNA swab.
 
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You have to scroll down to see this little blurb on the page title Serial Killer News Briefs (Crime Library):

Thursday, August 23, 2007

FORT MYERS, FL &#8212; The producers of America's Most Wanted' have paid a forensic sculptor $20,000 to reconstruct the faces of eight human skeletons found in a wooded lot last April. Investigators are now asking a Florida court for permission to allow segments of the reconstruction process filmed for the weekly television show. Unlike most states, Florida does not allow autopsy photographs or video and audio recordings to be released without the consent of the victim's family member. In this case, all of the victims are unidentified. A ruling is still pending. <modsnip: broken link>
 
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Well, my goodness! I would certainly think that the state of Florida would be very interested in finding out who these people are! They should have a vested interest in discovering whether or not a serial killer has been operating carte blance in the area! If the state denies the request to allow AMW to publicize the sculptures, something is seriously wrong. :twocents:
 
Reannan said:
Well, my goodness! I would certainly think that the state of Florida would be very interested in finding out who these people are! They should have a vested interest in discovering whether or not a serial killer has been operating carte blance in the area! If the state denies the request to allow AMW to publicize the sculptures, something is seriously wrong. :twocents:
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That's for sure! Especially if someone else is willing to pay for the work to help identify them.
 
I was thinking about this today, such a shame 8 people that can finally be put to rest.
 
Someone said that another guy escaped from a miile away from there.. where was he from?
 
I think this could be the work of a serial killer If 8 people came up missing all at one time we would remember that happening for sure. The bad thing is if that is truly the case it might be much harder to identify them :-(
 
2 Men identified!!

Bone investigation solves 1 mystery, opens another - CNN.com

The woods off Arcadia Street in Fort Myers for years concealed an unmarked graveyard, police say.
www.cnn.com


In late November, the DNA testing gave investigators a major break: the names of two of the eight dead, Erik Kohler and John Blevins.
"It was the day we were waiting for all along in this investigation," Soto said, "because it gave us direction. It told us who they were. From there, we were able to start tracing back the footsteps of their lives, those last dates where we know where they were, who they hung out with."
 
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Two from Charlotte County just further drives home the fact that Daniel Conahan has more more explaining to do!
 
<modsnip: broken link>

"News reports this year said detectives had not ruled out the possibility that the eight people were victims of Daniel Conahan.

Conahan was sentenced to death in 1999 for strangling a drifter whose body was left in the woods in Charlotte County.

Conahan, who is on death row, is a suspect in at least five other unsolved slayings."
 
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