Two things I'm wondering about: why is his lower clothing undone like that? why is his entire face discolored compared to the rest of his skin?
I know the blood pools after death but it's not uniform on him. He looks like maybe he was chocked or his chest was compressed at death.
It's so weird you're asking that question because I've been reviewing the images and was thinking the same thing.
I remember seeing the Mostly Harmless images when his body was first discovered. LE take a lot of pictures in situ before the body is removed. In the case of this gentlemen LE would have to get him out of the water first. There likely would have been no value to taking pictures while he was still in the ocean.
I wanted to know about weed lines so I was looking them up. There are several different types of 'weeds' in the ocean and like
@GatorFL mentioned they usually are the go to places to catch fish. So there are four different types of 'weeds'.
Here's an excerpt from the link:
https://myfwc.com/research/habitat/seagrasses/information/faq/
"There are seven seagrass species found in Florida. The most common are shoal grass (
Halodule wrightii), manatee grass (
Syringodium filiforme) and turtle grass (
Thalassia testudinum). Widgeon grass (
Ruppia maritima), star grass (
Halophila engelmannii) and paddle grass (
Halophila decipiens) are less common. Johnson’s seagrass (
Halophila johnsonii) is found only along Florida’s southeast coast and is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act."
Almost all of the grasses listed above are only in the Gulf of Mexico since the tides of the Atlantic wouldn't support them. On the Atlantic side the weed lines are usually sargassum, which doesn't look anything like the sea grass that was found inside the deceased's shirt. There is one exception regarding the seagrasses normal habitat and that is manatee grass. Manatee grass can grow in Florida Bay near the Keys. Check out this link:
What’s that weed on the beach? If it’s not sargassum, what is it?
During storms manatee grass has been found washed up on shore taken there by the Gulf Stream (see images in above link). There was Tropical Storm Henri in early September moving eastbound from the Gulf which could have deposited the grass in the Atlantic Ocean.
So about the pants being pulled down. I think it's possible that's how our JD was found. I was looking at some pics of fishermen that ply that part of the ocean. Here's a random image.
Is it possible that this man fell overboard wearing this type of rain pant? Maybe they were dragging him down so he was desperately trying to get them off. He may have got them down to where his pants and underwear were but couldn't manage to get them off and drowned. As he rolled in the surf and weed line they may have eventually come off his body. If that did happen, it begs the question, what boat was he on? Was he by himself, which I think based on his age, is pretty doubtful. If you go out for a day of fishing is there a place you go to sign up or can you just walk down to a marina and ask some random people if they want to take out a client? I have no idea how that would work, at least back in 2003 where a lot of people were still not computer savvy.
I am interested why LE are treating this as a homicide. Although a homicide doesn't necessarily mean murder it could mean reckless disregard for someone's safety and wellbeing which ended in death.