FL FL - Belle Glade, New Hope Sugar property, 3 victims (2507UMFL, 1220UFFL, 2506UMFL), Jul'82

[Kano]

Sorry if this has been covered. I tried to search but didn't come up with anything.

This is a case of 3 people found together, possible drug-related.


Reconstruction of the victim's tattoos; close up images of tattoos and victim's belongings.

Date of Discovery: July 14, 1982
Location of Discovery: Belle Glade, Palm Beach County, Florida
Estimated Date of Death: Days to a week prior
State of Remains: Decomposed
Cause of Death: Homicide by gunshot

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 45-55 years old
Race: White and/or Hispanic
Sex: Male
Height: 5'5" to 5'7"
Weight: 140 to 160 lbs.
Hair: Black. Thick black Fu Man Chu and long mutton chop sideburns.
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: He had a tattoo on the posterior left shoulder of the initials "ZDM" in a diamond shape, and a tattoo on the anterior left shoulder of a snake with woman's head and the words "ASI Erestu" above the head.

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. He had extensive dental work.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Not available.

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Plain Pocket blue jeans and wide black leather belt (size 32).
Jewelry: A gold ring with white stones surrounding a pink stone worn on the left ring finger. A gold chain with one black and one yellow metal cat charm attached. A silver National Semiconductor Chronograph wrist watch worn on the left wrist.
Additional Personal Items: An Aquarius medallion key ring with four keys.

Circumstances of Discovery
The victim's body was found with a female, 1220UFFL, and a male, 2506UMFL in C-51 Canal, eight miles west of U.S. 441 on New Hope Sugar property in Belle Glade.

The body was wrapped mummy style with several articles of clothing, bed linen, and plastic and tied to a blue and gold inflatable life raft. A black plastic garbage bag was wrapped around his head. The wrapping was held together by clothesline, window cord and fishing lines. He had been handcuffed and shot in the back.

Investigators believe the killings could be drug-related and that the trio was killed elsewhere.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: District 15 Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Michael Bell
Agency Phone Number: 561-688-4575 or 4465
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 82-P-205

Agency Name: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Lt. Mike Wingate
Agency Phone Number: 561-688-4092
Agency E-Mail: wingatem(at)pbso.org
Agency Case Number: 82-69933

NCIC Case Number: U189912284
NamUs Case Number: 811
Former Hot Case Number: 578

Information Source(s)
NamUs
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Sun-Sentinel News Archive (12/13/06)

Admin Notes
Added: 3/13/07; Last Updated: 2/28/18

2507UMFL

 

[Kano]

Date of Discovery: July 14, 1982
Location of Discovery: Belle Glade, Palm Beach County, Florida
Estimated Date of Death: Days to a week prior
State of Remains: Decomposed
Cause of Death: Homicide by gunshot

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 18-25 years old
Race: White and/or Hispanic
Sex: Female
Height: 5'0" to 5'2"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. She had poor teeth with substantial tooth decay.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Not available.

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: A multi-colored scarf and a brown Camel short sleeve T-shirt with an image on the front of a camel, pyramid, and palm trees in the desert.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: A pair of prescription eye glasses.

Circumstances of Discovery
The victim's body was found with two males, 2506UMFL and 2507UMFL in C-51 Canal, eight miles west of U.S. 441 on New Hope Sugar property in Belle Glade.

The body was wrapped in clothing, bed linen, and plastic. The wrapping was held together by clothesline, window cord and fishing lines. A pair of loose handcuffs were found near the remains. She had been shot twice in the back.

Investigators believe the killings could be drug-related and that the trio was killed elsewhere.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: District 15 Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Michael Bell
Agency Phone Number: 561-688-4575 or 4465
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 82-P-203

Agency Name: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Lt. Mike Wingate
Agency Phone Number: 561-688-4092
Agency E-Mail: wingatem(at)pbso.org
Agency Case Number: 82-69850

NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 776
Former Hot Case Number: 577

Information Source(s)
NamUs
FLUIDBB
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Sun-Sentinel News Archive (12/13/06)

1220UFFL

 

[Kano]

Date of Discovery: July 14, 1982
Location of Discovery: Belle Glade, Palm Beach County, Florida
Estimated Date of Death: 1 week prior
State of Remains: Decomposed
Cause of Death: Homicide by gunshot

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 25-40 years old
Race: White and/or Hispanic
Sex: Male
Height: 5'10" to 6'0"
Weight: 150 to 190 lbs.
Hair: Brown. Victim wore a mustache.
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown.

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. He had a slight overbite and several restorations.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Not available.

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Marc Phillipe designer blue jeans (size 3), gym shorts (size 36-38), and Fruit of the Loom underwear (size 34-36).
Jewelry: Unknown.
Additional Personal Items: Unknown.

Circumstances of Discovery
The victim's body was found with a female, 1220UFFL, and a male 2507UMFL in C-51 Canal, eight miles west of U.S. 441 on New Hope Sugar property in Belle Glade.

The body was wrapped in a dark blue quilted bed comforter with a black plastic garbage bag over the head and feet. It was tied with fishing line and rope. Masking tape covered his mouth and eyes. The victim had been handcuffed. The handcuffs had the word "STOP" printed over the keyhole.

Investigators believe the murders could be drug-related and that the trio was killed elsewhere.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: District 15 Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Michael Bell or Heron Ruiz
Agency Phone Number: 561-688-4575 or 561-688-4465
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 82-P-204 / 1982-00204

Agency Name: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Lt. Mike Wingate
Agency Phone Number: 561-688-3000 or 561-688-4092
Agency E-Mail: wingatem(at)pbso.org
Agency Case Number: 82-69932

NCIC Case Number: U189707489
NamUs Case Number: 810
Former Hot Case Number: 576

Information Source(s)
NamUs
Fear the Artist
FLUIDDB
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Sun-Sentinel News Archive (12/13/06)

2506UMFL

 

[MadMcGoo]

What an unusual case.

UP810
UP776
UP811

 

[LucyOso]

Do they have facial photos or recons?

 

[MadMcGoo]

Do they have facial photos or recons?

Only this one does.

Reconstructions of the victim by Autumn Krick

 

[MadMcGoo]

The other male:

Reconstruction of the victim's tattoos; close up images of tattoos and victim's belongings

 

[MadMcGoo]

The female:

Reconstruction of the victim's shirt.

 

[Onfortuneswheel]

It's not "ASI Erestu", it's "así eres tú" - 'that's you' or 'that's who you are'.

 

[Laughing]

It's not "ASI Erestu", it's "así eres tú" - 'that's you' or 'that's who you are'.

So is this decedent a snake -- or is someone else the snake?

Old Presbyterian Sunday School teachers are shy of tattoo knowledge INHExperience.

jmho ymmv lrr

 

[citizen_sleuth]

"Wrapped bodies found in canal," St. Joseph News-Press, 15 July 1982, 3A.

Jerome Burdi, "Group seeks Cuban help to ID bodies," South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 26 June 2010, 2B.

Photo of a t-shirt worn by one of the victims, published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

 

[LucyOso]

"Wrapped bodies found in canal," St. Joseph News-Press, 15 July 1982, 3A.
View attachment 384472

Jerome Burdi, "Group seeks Cuban help to ID bodies," South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 26 June 2010, 2B.
View attachment 384470

Photo of a t-shirt worn by one of the victims, published in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel
View attachment 384471

Camel Cig T-shirt?

 

[cheemsg]

So is this decedent a snake -- or is someone else the snake?

Old Presbyterian Sunday School teachers are shy of tattoo knowledge INHExperience.

jmho ymmv lrr

It definitely depicts an ex in my opinion.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Tony Wharton, "Three Bodies Discovered in Canal: Sheriff's Detectives Almost Certain Victims Were Murdered," Palm Beach Post, 15 July 1982, C1.

"We may have a common method here, but we're not quite ready to say anything. It's definitely murder," said Detective Mike Gauger as County Medical Examiner Hugh Dortch performed autopsies.

[...]

The bodies were wrapped in plastic, bedsheets and blankets and tied with various types of nylon cord. Two were floating intact on the surface of the canal and the third had come loose from its wrappings and had broken into several pieces in the canal.

[...]

The bodies were first reported about noon by an employee of New Hope Sugar Corp., said supervisor Victor Perez. The worker, who was spraying the canal banks with weedkiller, reported the find to his foreman, Perez said, who told officials at the sugar mill.

The first sheriff's officers arrived at the scene about 1:30, Sheets said. They dropped a rope down the steep canal bank and Sgt. Robert Wilson began searching the canal, which was 3-4 feet deep in the 20-foot section where the bodies were found.

Wilson waded slowly through waist-deep water to disturb the bodies as little as possible. The first evidence he turned up were several fingers, apparently separated from the hand naturally during decomposition.

Chris Spolar, "3 bodies found floating in canal by cane workers," Miami Herald, 15 July 1982, 1B.

Sheriff's deputies searched through the afternoon for any other bodies on a stretch of the C15 canal, two miles east of 20 Mile Bend and just south of State Road 80 in western Palm Beach County.

[...]

"They look like they've been here up to two weeks," Capt. Richard Sheets said as divers and a helicopter searched the area. "It looks like a dump job."

[...]

One of the workers, Felipe Garcia, was moving his tractor near the edge of the canal when he saw a piece of bone floating on top of the water.

"It was in the middle of the canal," Garcia's supervisor, Victor Perez, said. "He went to spray the cane and it [the skeleton] looked right up at him. He's [Garcia] still running."

"It looked like a 'gator got to one of them," said foreman Ed Recio, who was working in 92-degree heat when the bodies surfaced. "One was found in the middle of the canal, one found in the brush and the other right beside it."

[...]

"We need to see what's on the bottom, and we're just lucky this is the kind of canal we can do it with," Sheets said.

[...]

"They packaged them like they wanted to be real serious," Sgt. Bill Tremer said. "The hard part comes now. We have to figure out what they are and who they are."

Rich Pollack and Joanne Fanizza, "Cops: 3 canal victims killed gangland-style," South Florida Sun Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale, FL], 16 July 1982, B1.

"We speculate they were all executed," said Palm Beach County Sheriff's Capt. Richard Sheets during a press conference. "They were probably put on their knees, blindfolded and shot."

Detectives still have not identified the victims, nor do they have a motive for the murders. But Sheets said a possible drug connection is being investigated.

"It has all the earmarks of that type of thing, but that's purely speculative," he said.

Police said tattoos found on one victim indicate he may have been a Cuban refugee who arrived in the Mariel boatlift last year.

[...]

Sheets said a gold chain necklace with black and gold cat medallions was found on the body of one of the male victims, who was also wearing a gold ring with a large pink stone, possibly an amethyst. The ring, which had the marking PO-10K inside, had two smaller stones on either side of the pink stone.

Tony Wharton, "Detectives Probe Link to Narcotics In Triple Slaying," Palm Beach Post, 16 July 1982, C1.

The Sheriff's Office pumped a 100-foot section of the canal dry yesterday and found the pelvis and other bones from the woman's body, a pair of eyeglasses which might have belonged to the woman and a loose pair of Japanese handcuffs identical to those found on the other two bodies, Sheets said.

[...]

Investigators said although they are sending descriptions of the bodies nationwide, they are looking to Dade and Broward counties as the probable murder sites.

There are two bullet wounds in the upper torsos of each of the three, Sheets said, probably frontal shots. He said they do not know the caliber of the weapon.

[...]

Other items were found in the victims' pockets according to detectives, but they refused to identify them. Sheets also said the Latin male was wrapped with something they will not disclose because it is too valuable to the investigation.

"You know, if someone comes along and says they know about this, we need something to ask them that hasn't been in the papers," he said.

"Bodies in canal were murder victims," Miami Herald, 16 July 1982, 2C.

Capt. Richard Sheets said medical examiners found traces of gunshot wounds on all three bodies.

Each body evidently had eyes and mouth covered with tape and arms handcuffed behind it.

"We're speculating that it was some type of execution," Sheets said.

[...]

The third victim was male, apparently Hispanic, about 5 feet 6 inches and 160 to 180 pounds, with a thick black mustache. He was wearing blue jeans and an assortment of jewelry, including a gold neck chain adorned with two charms in the shape of cats. He also had a tattoo with the letters ZDM, and one depicting a coiled snake with a woman's head. Atop the snake were the words "Asi Erestu," Spanish for "this is how you are."

"Police find handcuffs where bodies were found," Tampa Bay Times, 17 July 1982, 14B.

Police found a human thighbone, sunglasses, handcuffs, a plastic bag and a woman's scarf when they drained a remote Palm Beach County canal where three bodies were found earlier this week. The handcuffs resembled those that bound the wrists of two of the bodies discovered Wednesday, sheriff's Sgt. Bill Tremer said. Only the upper torso of a third body was found. Detectives drained the canal in hopes of finding more of what appeared to be the remains of a young woman. All three victims had been shot twice.