FL FL - Dade City, NtvMal, 40-50, Kenneth Salnag from North Carolina

[Grungster]

Reconstructions of the victim by Samantha Steinberg and the University of South Florida; reconstruction of victim's hat.

Date of Discovery: February 2, 1981
Location of Discovery: Dade City, Pasco County, Florida
Estimated Date of Death: 5-12 Months Prior
State of Remains: Skeletal
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 40-50 years old
Race: White with possibly Native American admixture
Gender: Male
Height: 5'10"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Healed nasal fracture and numerous healed fractures to both left and right ribs in the area of upper front chest. He also had a healed fracture to the left clavicle and osteoarthritis throughout the joints in his arms, legs, hands and feet, and spinal column. He would have walked with a stoop and had apparent arthritis.

Identifiers
Dentals:Available. Tooth 8 had root tip remaining, covered with bone. Possibly chewed tobacco due to teeth condition. Lingual Tori located lingually to tooth 22. Severe generalized periodontitis with bone loss on tooth 18 and 19. Teeth 1, 7, 12, 21, 27 fallen out postmortem.
Fingerprints: Not available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Blue/black pants, inseam 30 with red stitching in crotch; 27 inch white belt, with two extra holes and metal buckle secured with cooper wire; black cloth/mesh baseball style hat, one green, heavy knit sock, and one yellow, fine/light sock. Brown ankle high, leather shoes with white shoe strings, tied in right hand bow. Soles worn less on heels.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Two small keys on a string were tied to the man's belt. One was a brass “Master” key and the other was a small metal key for an inexpensive padlock. In his pockets were buttons and five quarters. Two were dated 1965, two were dated 1967 and one dated 1974. A plastic fertilizer/feed bag and two small foil/plastic bags believed to be for the purpose of containing tobacco were also found at the scene.

Circumstances of Discovery
The decedent was located in wooded area in a dry ditch between US 98 and railroad tracks, near Tuskeegee Avenue in Dade City by a pair of boys.

Lead isotope testing indicated the man was likely born in the United States and appeared to be most consistant with a Florida origin.

Previous investigation revealed the man could have been from North Carolina and used the names "Dakota" or "Kenneth Salnang."

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Dade City Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Detective Richardson
Agency Phone Number: 352-521-5604
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 1981-057

Agency Name: District 6 Medical Examiner
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 727-582-6800
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 81-0303

NCIC Case Number: U820023820
NamUs Case Number: 2307

Information Source(s)
NamUs
University of South Florida

Admin Notes
Added: 10/13/09; Last Updated: 7/30/17

Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team

** Listed information may be estimated.

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[Grungster]

Unsolved Homicide - Unidentified Remains - February 2, 1981
October 28, 2015
On February 2, 1981 the skeletal remains of an unidentified adult black male approximately 40-50 years of age was discovered in a ditch between US 98 and the railroad tracks at Tuskegee Avenue in Dade City. He was wearing a pair of dark blue or black polyester, 30-inch inseam trousers, ankle high black leather soled shoes and a black baseball cap. The victim was found with two foil and plastic bags that are believed to have held chewing tobacco, two keys and five quarters.

Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay is offering a reward of up to $3,000 for information that leads to the identification and arrest of the unknown suspect(s) in this case. Anyone with any information regarding this case and who wants to be eligible for a cash reward is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS (8477), report anonymously online at www.crimestopperstb.com or send a mobile tip using our new P3 Tips Mobile application, which is a free download for iPhones and Droids.

 

[aThousandYearsWide]

I will have to check NC missing after work. I wonder why crimestoppers has his race as black and Doe Network has him as white/poss. native. With skeletal remains I always take those estimations with a grain of salt anyways due to recent ID's being way off.

 

[Bit of hope]

In the Namus file there is also this recon. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

They state he is white/Caucasian. That comes closer to a possible Native American heritage then an African American if you ask me.

 

[Bit of hope]

Lost and Missing in Indian Country

I looked at all the pictures, but couldn't find anybody who could fit this unidentified person.

 

[Grungster]

I found an article, multiple, on newspapers.com, and from what I can tell, there were no signs of foul play at the scene, but they did believe it was a homicide. I can't find much after that.

 

[Bit of hope]

I found an article, multiple, on newspapers.com, and from what I can tell, there were no signs of foul play at the scene, but they did believe it was a homicide. I can't find much after that.

Please post the articles, it would be convenient and it's also a rule that when you post you post a source too.

 

[Grungster]

6 Feb 1981, 77 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

 

[Grungster]

9 Feb 1981, 71 - The Tampa Tribune at Newspapers.com

They call him "non-black". Really?

 

[Bit of hope]

9 Feb 1981, 71 - The Tampa Tribune at Newspapers.com

They call him "non-black". Really?

Say what!!!????

 

[Grungster]

Say what!!!????

Yep...

 

[Bit of hope]

Yep...

That is horrible..!

 

[Grungster]

I know, I mean did they really have to say that?

 

[Bit of hope]

I know, I mean did they really have to say that?

I've have seen very old stuff (reports from the old day's, up rises, demonstrations for the human rights, not related to this case at all) where they even use the word ...but that is really old.

 

[Grungster]

I've have seen very old stuff (reports from the old day's, up rises, demonstrations for the human rights, not related to this case at all) where they even use the word ...but that is really old.

At least we have some better police on the force now, at least most...

 

[Grungster]

But tbh, we don't really know if law enforcement said that, it could've been the newspaper who thought it would be interesting to add "non-black".

 

[Bit of hope]

6 Feb 1981, 77 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com

This is the actual text from the above article 6 Feb 1981.

Authorities hope to identify human skeleton found near tracks soon By JUDY BRENNAN

DADE CITY - Identification of human skeletal remains found Monday near the Seabord Coast Line Railroad tracks at Tuskeegee Street and U.S. 98 bypass is expected within a few days. Dade City Police Officer Robert Haygood released a tentative description Thursday of the remains found Monday morning by two teen-age boys. "Based on what we have found and the many missing person leads we've had, we expect to have a positive identification (on the body) very soon, within a few days," Haygood said. Jackie Coppinas, an investigator with the Pasco-Pinellas medical examiner's office, said Thursday she could not release any information until the investigation is complete. She said Dr. Curtis Wienker, an anthropology professor at the University of South Florida, will study the remains Saturday to determine age and race. Haygood said police have received missing person reports daily since the remains were found. "About 10 (of the missing persons) have some points that fit, but we have three where every point matches," he said. Haygood said police believe the skeleton is that of a white man, 50 to 60 years old, about 5-foot-10, thin and left-handed. "Based on how the joints were worn we also believe he had arthritis," Haygood said. He said the man was wearing a black baseball cap, dark blue polyester pants, a 27-inch white belt and leather work boots. "The shirt, probably cotton, was completely dissolved," Haygood said. "The clothes we did find late Monday were in bad shape, mixed in with the bones and dirt." Dade City Police Chief Norris Nixon said earlier that two 15-year-old boys were crossing a ditch about 30 feet from the tracks about 10 a.m. Monday when one of the boys slipped and fell about four feet from the skull. Police would not release the boys' names. "Right now we don't believe he was hit by a train because there were no broken bones and we haven't found any signs of foul play," Haygood said. But he said police are investigating the death as a homicide.

 

[Bit of hope]

And this is the actual text from the article written on 9 Feb

Reconstruction To Aid In Identifying Body by DON HOLT Tribune Staff Writer

DADE CITY - Pasco-Pinellas Medical Examiner's office investigators will try to reconstruct the features of a man whose skeletal remains were found in east Pasco County last week, police said Saturday. Attempts to identify the man have eliminated six of eight possibilities among the missing persons reported to the city police department, Officer Robert Haygood said after an anthropologist examined the body at the medical examiner's office in Largo Saturday. "We have two other possibilities that are not affirmative yet but they fit the general description almost exactly," said Haygood. Both missing persons under consideration are from Pasco County, Haygood said. The officer said the body was that of a "non-black" man, about 60 years old, 5-foot 10-inches tall, who once had a slipped disc and who had "definite signs of arthritis." "There was not a single broken bone in his body," said Haygood. "He did have two front teeth missing." Medical experts also determined that the man was left-handed, Haygood said. ' The man was wearing a black baseball cap, leather boots, a 27-inch white belt, and dark blue pants. The man had been dead from four to six months, police said shortly after the remains were discovered by two 15-year-old boys playing hooky from school. The students were crossing railroad tracks Monday morning when one slipped and fell into the ditch, discovering the bones. Police theorized that the body had not been discovered sooner because the ditch normally is filled with water. A Seaboard Coast Line engineer reported about six months ago that he thought his train may have hit a person along the tracks, police said. Investigators, however, said that the lack of broken bones on the body eliminated an accident with a train as cause of death. How the man died still has not been determined, Haygood said Saturday.

 

[Grungster]

I did find some info from the UID investigator from Pasco/Pinellas County, who is one of the nicest people I have talked too.

• Kenneth was homeless
• He had been in Dade City for about a year
• He worked odd labor for people
• Spoke with a Midwestern accent
• Was saving up for a bus ticket to NC, but never said he was from there
• Was last seen walking through Dade City
• Cause of death is undetermined but he said the manner is too, I believe him so I wonder what makes/made police think this is homicide?

 

[Bit of hope]

I did find some info from the UID investigator from Pasco/Pinellas County, who is one of the nicest people I have talked too.

• Kenneth was homeless
• He had been in Dade City for about a year
• He worked odd labor for people
• Spoke with a Midwestern accent
• Was saving up for a bus ticket to NC, but never said he was from there
• Was last seen walking through Dade City
• Cause of death is undetermined but he said the manner is too, I believe him so I wonder what makes/made police think this is homicide?

So if I get you right...they kind of know who this person was, but don't know his real name? Nice you had a positive experience with the investigator.