FL FL - Key Largo, Card Sound Road, WhtMale, 30-40, 4”11-5’3”, UP6222, Found in wooden coffin wrapped in blankets and plastic, 5 Oct 1984

[PatLaurel]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

0 Missing Person Exclusions

3800UMFL


Date of Discovery: October 5, 1984
Location of Discovery: Key Largo, Monroe County, Florida
Estimated Date of Death: 1 Month prior
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description​

Estimated Age: 30-40 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 4'11", Estimated
Weight: 125 lbs, Estimated
Hair Color: Black, straight with a few gray strands
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers​

Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown

Clothing & Personal Items​

Clothing: Blue T-shirt and dark colored shorts
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Discovery​

The decedent was found in a pine box wrapped in blankets.

Investigating Agency(s)​

Agency Name: District 16 - Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Tiffany Fridley, Medicolegal Death Investigator
Agency Phone Number: 305-743-9011
Agency E-Mail: Unknown
Agency Case Number: 84-0120

NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 6222

Information Source(s)​

NamUs

 

[PayrollNerd]

I wonder where the pine box was found. Could it have been a coffin like box or perhaps a homemade pine box such as a trunk?

 

[PatLaurel]

I wonder where the pine box was found. Could it have been a coffin like box or perhaps a homemade pine box such as a trunk?

The article below states the man was found "inside a wooden coffin".

UP6222 - Newspapers.com

 

[PayrollNerd]

So where did one buy a wood coffin in Monroe County in 1984??? Perhaps someone made it themselves? Seems like a lot of work for someone to do after they’ve committed murder.

 

[PatLaurel]

@PayrollNerd, could you please pinpoint on Google Maps the location where the coffin was found? I'm terrible with distances.. Two miles north of the intersection puts the coffin somewhere in a very populated area in Homestead, according to my (often wrong) calculations.
TIA

 

[doublestop]

NAMUS says he's 4'11", the article says 5'3"...either way quite short for an adult male. That might be the best clue in searching for matches.

I wonder if the coffin shows someone cared about him at some level?

 

[PayrollNerd]

I've circled in red the intersection of Card Sound Rd (also called SR905) & US1 or Rt 1, which can also be called Dixie Hwy. (Florida likes to have multiple names for one street.)

In 1984, U-Totem was the precursor to 7-11 convenience stores. If the coffin was located 2 miles north of this intersection, my best guess is the most northern store is probably the one that existed back then. 7-11 stores are added as the area grows so it is not unusual to see them in close proximity of one another.

 

[PatLaurel]

I've circled in red the intersection of Card Sound Rd (also called SR905) & US1 or Rt 1, which can also be called Dixie Hwy. (Florida likes to have multiple names for one street.)

In 1984, U-Totem was the precursor to 7-11 convenience stores. If the coffin was located 2 miles north of this intersection, my best guess is the most northern store is probably the one that existed back then. 7-11 stores are added as the area grows so it is not unusual to see them in close proximity of one another.

View attachment 432482

View attachment 432483

Thanks, @PayrollNerd. I forgot to update here after my question.
I found the approximate location, and there's a Circle-K store (former U-Totem) close to the intersection. This location makes more sense than Florida City or Homestead.

Circle K · 106501 Overseas Hwy, Key Largo, FL 33037

 

[summergirl1]

The wooden coffin really makes you wonder. What murderer has a wooden coffin? Or makes them? It's too bad there's not a photo of it. It's also too bad that there's no identifiers available for this John Doe.

 

[azure]

The wooden coffin really makes you wonder. What murderer has a wooden coffin? Or makes them? It's too bad there's not a photo of it. It's also too bad that there's no identifiers available for this John Doe.

Really bizarre to build a coffin and then put it and the body along a highway. If you're going to expend the effort to make a coffin, why not bury the body?

 

[PayrollNerd]

Thanks, @PayrollNerd. I forgot to update here after my question.
I found the approximate location, and there's a Circle-K store (former U-Totem) close to the intersection. This location makes more sense than Florida City or Homestead.

Circle K · 106501 Overseas Hwy, Key Largo, FL 33037


View attachment 432490

I totally missed the Key Largo part of the location description!!

 

[Kaylison]

MOO, my first thought was maybe it was a self-inflicted wound? Just with the way it is described, him being in a homemade(?) Coffin and swathed in blankets, it sounds like someone cared. I wonder if he/his family might have been undocumented, and didn't know what to do.

 

[summergirl1]

He sounds possibly Hispanic ( maybe not completely?), to me, based on his description, but he is described as white.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Really bizarre to build a coffin and then put it and the body along a highway. If you're going to expend the effort to make a coffin, why not bury the body?

There is of course a big ocean nearby, making one wonder why they didn’t just dispose of the body there. it sounds very hastily done, yet they had a coffin. This is a head scratcher.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Tropical Storm Isabel (see page 7) was blowing thru right before this coffin was found.

I’m wondering if perhaps there was a pseudo burial at sea and the storm brought the coffin to shore. Another possibility could be the storm delayed a burial at sea but as evacuations began, the coffin was abandoned.

I realize the victim died from a bullet and there is a crime that occurred. But what if he had been released for burial, or even cremation, albeit unembalmed, but for some reason it was interrupted.

Probably a stretch but the coffin is such a mystery.

https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/mwr_pdf/1984.pdf