Identified! TX - Galveston, beach near Kahala Dr, BlkMale 16-35, UP69355, Under Armor slides on forearms, May'20 - Calvin Mbwambo

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Hi @Arenee546 , welcome to Websleuths! Good job, I think Larry's a good facial match and all his statistics match up! Atlanta and Galveston are pretty far away but of course, people travel and Larry apparently 'worked out of town'. If you think he's a possibility, I would submit him!
My one reservation about Larry though, is his photo looks like a mugshot, and if he's been arrested, then his prints should be on file and this UID's prints were not. Of course, they might have just tested the local print database and didn't consider those elsewhere!
 
Original




Case Numbers
ME/C Case Number ME-01-2020-315

Demographics
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Black/African American
Estimated Age Range (Years): 16-35
Height: 5' 7"(67 inches) , Measured
Weight: 140-150 lbs, Estimated

Circumstances
Date Body Found:May 10, 2020

Location Found Map
LocationL Galveston, Texas 77554
County: Galveston County
GPS Coordinates (Not Mapped): 29.1608552, -95.00630890

Circumstances of Recovery: The decedent was found on the beach near Kahala Drive on Sunday, May 10, 2020. He had white and black Under Armor brand slip on type sandals (often referred to as "slides") secured through his hands onto his forearms, and was wearing black shorts and gray Calvin Klein brand boxer brief underwear.

Physical Description
Hair Color: Black
Head Hair Description: Medium length dreadlocks.
Eye Description: Indiscernible due to decomposition, but noted as "dark".

Clothing and Accessories
Clothing: Black shorts; Gray "Calvin Klein" brand boxer briefs; White and black "Under Armour" brand slip on shoes ("slides").
Footwear: White and black "Under Armour" brand slip on shoes ("slides") that were fitted on his hands.

Source - NamUs

Who is Galveston County John Doe (2020)? - This gentleman is also with Othram for genetic identification.

Apologies for any mistakes. I couldn't find this Doe on WS, and this is my first time posting a new thread.
 
Galveston Daily News Article Published in the May 13, 2020 Newspaper


The Galveston County Medical Examiner's office still was working Tuesday to identify and determine what killed a young, black man found dead on the sand near Kahala Drive.

The man's body was found about 12:40 p.m. Sunday, according to the Galveston Police Department.

"There were no hits on his fingerprints and it appears that he was in good physical shape," Galveston County Assistant Medical Examiner John "D.J." Florence said. "There's still no official cause of death as we're awaiting toxicology results."

The man is believed to be between 18-35 years old; 5 feet, 7 inches tall; and 150 pounds, Florence said, adding that the man was wearing a pair of black shorts with Calvin Klein gray boxer briefs and had a pair of white Under Armour slip-on shoes that were fitted on his hands; a chipped left upper tooth; and medium-length dreadlocks.

"There hasn't been any reports locally of any missing persons that fit his description, so we're asking the public to help with possibly identifying him," Florence said.

The Kahala Beach subdivision is in Galveston's West End on the beach side of FM 3005.

Anyone with information about the man can call the medical examiner's office at 409-935-9274.
 
Some people I'm thinking of submitting:
Joshua Hayes - some of his pictures on the Charley project look mugshot-ish which could rule him out since UP's fingerprints weren't on record and he also has tattoos, but he looks similar enough and has a similar height and weight.
hayes_joshua2.jpg

Rashad Hughes - Some of his pictures are definitely mugshots and he weighed more than UP but he looks vaguely similar (not too sure if I should submit)
hughes_rashad2.jpg

Derrick Hines - The circumstances don't quite match up but I think he looks like the recon and his measurements match almost exactly
news article with the images: Huntsville police search for missing man | WHNT.com
EMkcm3KX0AAbFbe
 
Isn't possible he was a swimmer and just there alone so no one reported him missing?
 
BrownBear said:
Isn't possible he was a swimmer and just there alone so no one reported him missing?
Click to expand...


The only thing that makes me think otherwise is that he had slides on his arms. Almost like makeshift water wings.

As a black woman, I have to mention the bone density of black people. It's harder for us to float, and why we have predominantly avoided the water. The stereotypical "black people and water" comes from somewhere.

Makes me also question if him getting into the water was a last ditch effort of some kind....
 
Aurora90 said:
The only thing that makes me think otherwise is that he had slides on his arms. Almost like makeshift water wings.

As a black woman, I have to mention the bone density of black people. It's harder for us to float, and why we have predominantly avoided the water. The stereotypical "black people and water" comes from somewhere.

Makes me also question if him getting into the water was a last ditch effort of some kind....
Click to expand...
That is super interesting- thanks for the firsthand experience. I learned about the body/bone density when I was a lifeguard ages ago but thought it had been "debunked."

I think even that if he was there alone to hang out on the beach or to swim that someone would have worried when he didn't come home. Galveston is a big draw for central and even north Texas, so he could have traveled from quite far away. But then where is his car? Did he take the bus? etc, etc. So many questions.
 
the slides on arms made me wonder if he was using them to drag himself across the beach
 

Texas’s GALVESTON — Police released a sketch after a body washed up on the west side of Galveston Island and asked: Do you know this man? This occurred two years ago. His face is still a mystery to this day. However, forensic genealogists now assert that they will locate him. On Mother’s Day 2020, in the middle of the day, the 911 calls started to come in.

The caller mumbled, “Uh, yes.” “I need to report a body on Galveston, Texas’ Kahala Beach.” A second caller was asked by a female dispatcher, “Do we know if it’s male or female?

The woman, who claimed to be calling from her beach property, responded, “I don’t know.” “People are now approaching and taking pictures, and I really didn’t want to look.”

No identification was visible on the man. He was dressed in black Calvin Klein briefs underneath generic black swim trunks. Officer Dannie Simpson of the Galveston Police Department provided the Unsolved team with previously unreleased images of crime scenes.

The men’s size 11 Under Armour slides that were fastened to the man’s hands, however, may have been the most significant detail of all.

According to Simpson, “He had been swimming and may have attempted to use those as a flotation device.”

The man had actually drowned, the autopsy later found. He stood at 5’5″ and appeared to be in his twenties, but who was he? According to Simpson, the U.S. Coast Guard advised him that the current that day might have brought him in from the direction of the Bolivar Peninsula.

The search for this man’s whereabouts awaited a call from someone who could be interested. However, no such call was made. Months then two years passed. A cold case was opened. Finally, the phone rang.

This, in my opinion, might assist me solve this case, Simpson remarked.

A scientist from Othram, a private genetic testing facility in The Woodlands, said that they could swiftly create a DNA profile for this John Doe. Forensic genealogists would begin their search for his relatives after the profile had been created.

Simpson believed it was worthwhile to try.

On DNAsolves.com, Othram posted the case for crowdsourcing. To conduct the testing, they would require $5,000. People from all throughout the nation gave over the past year. The case has now received funding.

According to Kristen Mittelman with Othram, “I know for a fact that within a few weeks, we’ll have a profile for this man’s DNA.”

Othram is unable to estimate how long it might take those genetic genealogists to track down this John Doe’s family.

Mittelman promises that “he will be identified, and we’ll figure out what’s going on. “I can’t tell you how many cases we’ve solved where the Jane and John Doe case sparked an investigation that resulted in a person being arrested and receiving a sentence,” the investigator said.

By the following Mother’s Day, Simpson hopes to have provided answers for a bereaved family: “Somewhere there’s a mother looking for a son and we would like for – to at least offer her some closure with that.
timesofunited.com

13 Unsolved: The mystery surrounding the body found on Galveston Beach in May 2020 continues - (T.O.U. News)

Texas’s GALVESTON — Police released a sketch after a body washed up on the west side of Galveston Island and asked: Do you know this man? This occurred two years ago. His face is still a mystery to this day. However, forensic genealogists now assert that they will locate him. On Mother’s Day...
timesofunited.com timesofunited.com
 
othram said:
We have an important update on this case. More details, here Who is Galveston County John Doe (2020)?, but we believe that our victim is East African and we hope this additional information about his ancestry helps focus the search for his family.
Click to expand...

MadMcGoo said:
From the recent update:

“Analysis further suggests that genetically, this individual could be Somali Bantu or Kenyan Bantu.”
Click to expand...

Aurora90 said:
@othram Would the search be much more difficult if he was from the bolivar peninsula? Am I wrong in thinking that it is harder to assist in cases where John/Jane Doe is from outside the states? Please correct me if this is incorrect thinking...
Click to expand...

@Aurora90 I think you are right for lots of reasons - underrepresentation of black communities in DNA databases and the possibilities that those from outside the US who do not have easy access to LE or an understanding of how to report someone missing might never make an MP report.

It's worth noting that Somali Bantus are not ethnically Somali, form only a teeny tiny minority of the Somali population and don't have the same clan structure. The Somali Bantu originated further south - Tanzania, Mozambique etc - and were brought to Somalia as an enslaved population 200+ years ago. Despite that happening all those years ago, many Somalis don't think they 'belong' there. Bantu were particularly targeted in Somalian violence in the early 1990s and many of the refugees resettled into the US and other countries at that time were from this group. So it's not inconceivable that this young man might have been a migrant of that era, or the child of recent migrants.

Having lived in East Africa for the past few years - I just left recently - I have watched this case with much interest and really hope for some news soon.,
 
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