Ernest Joe Manzanares, who would now be 58 years old, was last seen in Ocoee July 28, 1988.
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Ernest was last seen leaving his home at 95 Sand Dollar Key in Ocoee, Florida on July 28th, 1988. He took nothing but his car keys, driving away in a red/primer gray 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo which has not been located. The vehicle may have had an unknown Colorado tag attached. It also had an etching of the moon and the sun that was visible from the outside and inside on the back rear window.
Ernest was 23 years old at the time, a hispanic male, he has a tattoo of the Grim Reaper on his upper left arm and another tattoo of the letters FCC which were covered up by flowers in colored ink. He wears eyeglasses.
Earlier that year, Ernest had come to Florida from Colorado to be with his family — mother, father and siblings — after having some run-ins with the law there.
It was later learned through his mother Patricia that she and his father Frank were in an abusive relationship, and Ernest would always try to defend her by standing up to his father.
She says that Frank and his cousin mentioned they were going to kidnap Ernest’s sister and cousin and sell them into slavery. Patricia Manzanares often wonders if Ernest confronted them on this, and they killed him.
She eventually gained the courage to leave Frank, and in 1992, she took her younger children with her back to Colorado.
Both Frank and the cousin are now deceased, and there has been no evidence to support the allegations.
On the 31st of August, around a month after he disappeared, Patricia reported her son as missing. He was entered into the Florida Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center. In December, detective Ted Silberstein, the original detective on the case, was able to find Ernest's fingerprints and dental records from Colorado.
In the first 5 years since his disappearance, Silberstein received several hits through FCIC and followed through on every one — without success.
On 5/9/2021, Detective David Gray obtained buccal swabs from Ernest's biological daughter, Kristina Cree. They were submitted to NamUs.
On 6/2/2022, detective Michelle Grogan was assigned to follow up on cold missing persons cases. She contacted the Winter Garden dispatch, who stated Ernest was still listed as a missing person, and his vehicle was included in the FCIC/NCIC file. She discovered 3-4 close hits on the vehicle and contacted the National Automobile Theft Bureau of Atlanta, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, Car Fax, The Division of Insurance Fraud and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. All were met with negative results.
She then contacted NamUs, and was advised that because of Covid and the loss of its funding, NamUs still had been unable to process the buccal swab for Cree but was hoping to gain its funding back soon.
Following Ernest Manzanares’ disappearance, the OCSO discovered a male transient dead on Silver Star Road in Ocoee, about 9 miles away from where Ernest Manzanares went missing. The victim was never identified.
Grogan contacted Sheriff’s Office detective Peter Hernandez and inquired if he knew if the bones from the unidentified deceased male still were contained at the Orange County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Grogan then spoke to Roberto Padrino at the medical examiner’s office, who stated they did have the remains from the homicide case. He requested dental X-rays from Ernest Manzanares, but Ocoee no longer had them. There were no dental X-rays for the OCSO homicide victim.
Grogan researched Ernest's old dentist in Colorado but discovered the dentist had died. However, it did lead her to his relatives who were sold the business. The relatives stated the building had been converted into city offices, and they believed all the records were destroyed.
As of September, 2023, work was being done to extract a DNA profile from the OCSO victim's bones and submit him to NamUs, as well as obtaining buccal from Ernest's two living biological brothers.
