citizen_sleuth
Verified family member - Orie Donald Esh thread
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NamUs #UP1240 / DoeNetwork 185UMFL
Demographics
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 40
Estimated Age Range (Years): 21-35
Estimated Year of Death: 1985
Estimated PMI: 0 Days
Height: 5'6" (66 inches), Estimated (News reports list his height at 5'8")
Weight: 181 lbs, Estimated
Cause of Death: Homicide by strangulation
Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: March 12, 1985
NamUs Case Created: April 7, 2008
ME/C QA Reviewed: N/A
Location Found: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
County: Broward County
Circumstances of Recovery: The victim was found murdered at the Interlude Motel at 1215 South Federal Highway, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 12, 1985.
The decedent checked into the Interlude Motel with two other males at around 8:45 PM on March 11, 1985. The man who rented the room had registered under a false name. The men were given room 11. At around 11:45 AM the next morning, a hotel employee who was checking the rooms before the maid would enter did not receive a reply when he knocked on their door. When he got inside, he found the decedent lying naked on the floor.
The man had been asphyxiated and a bloody handprint was on the wall. The man's clothing and identification had apparently been stolen by his killers, presumably the men he had checked in with. The handprint was identified as that of 21-year-old Peter Ruggirello, a homosexual prostitute and drifter. He was arrested on April 14 and he has refused to cooperate with investigators, claiming innocence.
During the murder trial, Peter said that the man's name was Adam and that he had met him and the other man at a bar on West Broward Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Peter may have identified the decedent as Henry Faulkner, but this name has never been verified. It was rumored that the decedent may have been from France and that a Masonic ring had been stolen from him. Neither rumor could be confirmed or denied. As of April 1986, the other suspect, identified as Wayne Moore, remains at large.
Ruggirello reportedly had a urinary prosthesis put in in 1989 and experienced health issues as a result. A letter, reportedly from Ruggirello, was posted online. In the letter, Ruggirello says his body rejected the prosthesis in 2001 and he received inadequate medical care.
In 2016, Ruggirello filed a mandamus petition seeking to compel the Department of Corrections to recommend “executive clemency/commutation” of his life sentence to a term of years. It was denied.
Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered
Condition of Remains: Recognizable face
Physical Description
Hair Color: Brown
Facial Hair Description: Mustache
Eye Color: Brown
Distinctive Physical Features: No information entered
Clothing and Accessories
- Decedent was found nude, but in the hotel room where he was discovered there were a pair of "Eaton Hill" pants (size 36/30) and a large blue nylon shirt. (Near the Body)
News Coverage
Steven Girardi, "Man's body discovered in motel room," Fort Lauderdale News, 13 March 1985, 2B.
Police were searching for a man who had rented the room Sunday and Monday nights at the Interlude motel, 1215 S. Federal Highway, homicide detective Phil Mundy said.
"Right now, he's our prime suspect," Mundy said. The man registered under a phony name, the detective said.
The victim died of asphyxiation, Mundy said. His clothes and identification were missing, apparently stolen by the killer, he said.
Michael Connelly, "Handprint leads to suspect," Fort Lauderdale News, 30 March 1985, 6B.
A bloody handprint on a motel room wall where a man was found strangled has led to the identification of a suspect and a first-degree murder warrant for him, police said Friday.
The warrant charges Peter Louis Ruggirello, 21, with the March 11 murder of a man authorities have been unable to identify, police said.
The victim's nude body was found sprawled in a room at the Interlude Motel, 1215 S. Federal Highway, where Ruggirello was believed to have been staying.
[...]
"We had Ruggirello's name as early as the 13th," said Detective Phil Mundy. "But we couldn't tie him in until March 27 when (the technicians) were able to get a print.
"They went back to the scene and kept playing around with it until they came up with something. It took them about two hours. Thank God they did it. It was (Ruggirello's) print."
Jennifer L. Schenker, "Old ways help cops find murder clue," Miami Herald, 30 March 1985, 2BR.
Investigators hoped to lift clear fingerprints from the blood on a wall in a room of the motel, 1215 S. Federal Highway, but sophisticated methods -- including the laser -- showed nothing, said Sgt. George Hurt.
"We came back and tried the old conventional black powder and got some prints off the door," Hurt said.
The crucial handprint was brought to the surface by another old-fashioned and inexpensive method called iodine fuming.
Close-up photographs of the prints were clear enough that fingerprint specialist Terry Arter was able to match them with Ruggirello's prints, police said.
Michael Connelly, "Murder suspect arrested," South Florida Sun Sentinel [Ft. Lauderdale, FL], 10 April 1985, 3B.
A fugitive sought in the strangulation of a man in a Fort Lauderdale motel room has been arrested in Jacksonville, police said.
[...]
Ruggirello, who denied any involvement in the March 12 murder, was arrested without incident at 11:40 p.m., police said. He was held without bond at the Duval County jail.
Michael Connelly, "Victim's name still mystery," South Florida Sun Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale, FL], 16 April 1985, 3B.
A trip by detectives to Jacksonville to interview the jailed suspect in a month-old Fort Lauderdale murder case produced no leads to the victim's identity.
[...]
Detectives also were unable to find an accomplice in the murder. Detective Sgt. Dave Patterson said fingerprints found in the motel room where the victim was strangled indicate two men were in the room with him.
"Man convicted, victim still unidentified," Miami Herald, 5 April 1986, 10BR.
After deliberating 10 hours and 20 minutes, the jury found Peter Louis Ruggirello guilty of the March 11 murder at the Interlude motel, 1215 S. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale.
[...]
Ruggirello was arrested in Jacksonville April 9 after police received information from an informant who said Ruggirello had talked to him about the motel slaying.
An Interlude bookkeeper found the body of a naked man, covered with a red bedspread, in Room 11 of the motel the morning after the murder. A bloody handprint on the wall matched Ruggirello's.
During the trial, Ruggirello said a second man, Wayne Moore, strangled the unidentified man.
Police are still searching for Moore.
Katie Springer, "Murderer, 21, receives life sentence," Fort Lauderdale News, 9 April 1986, 4B.
Broward Circuit Judge Robert Tyson Jr. sentenced him to life in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 25 years, after the state indicated that it would not seek the death penalty.
Michael Connelly, "After 13 months, the dead man has no name," Fort Lauderdale News, 14 April 1986, 3B.
"We don't have anything, not a clue to who he was," said Edwina Johnson, an investigator for the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office. "We have gone to great lengths to find out. We've done everything we could think of and gotten no luck whatsoever. It would seem that somebody has to know who he was."
[...]
"There was nothing left in that room that could help us identify the victim," said Mundy. "The killers took it with them."
So the detective started with the dead man's fingerprints. They were sent to state and national agencies, to Canadian authorities and to Interpol for comparison. They got no matches.
[...]
"Nothing panned out. They weren't our guy," said Mundy. "Usually the description wouldn't match. We ran down a few of the names we got and found each guy was still alive and well."
[...]
Believing the victim had been a tourist, investigators checked with auto rental agencies in Broward in hopes of finding a report of an overdue car with the name of the murder victim on it. They visited local car towing agencies to check on abandoned vehicles that had been towed in the city after the murder. They found no clues.
"If he did rent a car, God knows where he rented it," said Mundy.
[...]
Mundy said Ruggirello never cooperated with investigators in providing the name of the murder victim. At his trial in Broward Circuit Court, Ruggirello said the man's name was Adam and that he had met him and Moore near the Backstreet bar on West Broward Boulevard near downtown. He denied being involved in the murder.
Prosecutor Peter LaPorte said an informant told authorities that Ruggirello once said the man's name was Henry Faulkner.
Demographics
Sex: Male
Race/Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 40
Estimated Age Range (Years): 21-35
Estimated Year of Death: 1985
Estimated PMI: 0 Days
Height: 5'6" (66 inches), Estimated (News reports list his height at 5'8")
Weight: 181 lbs, Estimated
Cause of Death: Homicide by strangulation
Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: March 12, 1985
NamUs Case Created: April 7, 2008
ME/C QA Reviewed: N/A
Location Found: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
County: Broward County
Circumstances of Recovery: The victim was found murdered at the Interlude Motel at 1215 South Federal Highway, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 12, 1985.
The decedent checked into the Interlude Motel with two other males at around 8:45 PM on March 11, 1985. The man who rented the room had registered under a false name. The men were given room 11. At around 11:45 AM the next morning, a hotel employee who was checking the rooms before the maid would enter did not receive a reply when he knocked on their door. When he got inside, he found the decedent lying naked on the floor.
The man had been asphyxiated and a bloody handprint was on the wall. The man's clothing and identification had apparently been stolen by his killers, presumably the men he had checked in with. The handprint was identified as that of 21-year-old Peter Ruggirello, a homosexual prostitute and drifter. He was arrested on April 14 and he has refused to cooperate with investigators, claiming innocence.
During the murder trial, Peter said that the man's name was Adam and that he had met him and the other man at a bar on West Broward Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Peter may have identified the decedent as Henry Faulkner, but this name has never been verified. It was rumored that the decedent may have been from France and that a Masonic ring had been stolen from him. Neither rumor could be confirmed or denied. As of April 1986, the other suspect, identified as Wayne Moore, remains at large.
Ruggirello reportedly had a urinary prosthesis put in in 1989 and experienced health issues as a result. A letter, reportedly from Ruggirello, was posted online. In the letter, Ruggirello says his body rejected the prosthesis in 2001 and he received inadequate medical care.
In 2016, Ruggirello filed a mandamus petition seeking to compel the Department of Corrections to recommend “executive clemency/commutation” of his life sentence to a term of years. It was denied.
Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered
Condition of Remains: Recognizable face
Physical Description
Hair Color: Brown
Facial Hair Description: Mustache
Eye Color: Brown
Distinctive Physical Features: No information entered
Clothing and Accessories
- Decedent was found nude, but in the hotel room where he was discovered there were a pair of "Eaton Hill" pants (size 36/30) and a large blue nylon shirt. (Near the Body)
News Coverage
Steven Girardi, "Man's body discovered in motel room," Fort Lauderdale News, 13 March 1985, 2B.
Police were searching for a man who had rented the room Sunday and Monday nights at the Interlude motel, 1215 S. Federal Highway, homicide detective Phil Mundy said.
"Right now, he's our prime suspect," Mundy said. The man registered under a phony name, the detective said.
The victim died of asphyxiation, Mundy said. His clothes and identification were missing, apparently stolen by the killer, he said.
Michael Connelly, "Handprint leads to suspect," Fort Lauderdale News, 30 March 1985, 6B.
A bloody handprint on a motel room wall where a man was found strangled has led to the identification of a suspect and a first-degree murder warrant for him, police said Friday.
The warrant charges Peter Louis Ruggirello, 21, with the March 11 murder of a man authorities have been unable to identify, police said.
The victim's nude body was found sprawled in a room at the Interlude Motel, 1215 S. Federal Highway, where Ruggirello was believed to have been staying.
[...]
"We had Ruggirello's name as early as the 13th," said Detective Phil Mundy. "But we couldn't tie him in until March 27 when (the technicians) were able to get a print.
"They went back to the scene and kept playing around with it until they came up with something. It took them about two hours. Thank God they did it. It was (Ruggirello's) print."
Jennifer L. Schenker, "Old ways help cops find murder clue," Miami Herald, 30 March 1985, 2BR.
Investigators hoped to lift clear fingerprints from the blood on a wall in a room of the motel, 1215 S. Federal Highway, but sophisticated methods -- including the laser -- showed nothing, said Sgt. George Hurt.
"We came back and tried the old conventional black powder and got some prints off the door," Hurt said.
The crucial handprint was brought to the surface by another old-fashioned and inexpensive method called iodine fuming.
Close-up photographs of the prints were clear enough that fingerprint specialist Terry Arter was able to match them with Ruggirello's prints, police said.
Michael Connelly, "Murder suspect arrested," South Florida Sun Sentinel [Ft. Lauderdale, FL], 10 April 1985, 3B.
A fugitive sought in the strangulation of a man in a Fort Lauderdale motel room has been arrested in Jacksonville, police said.
[...]
Ruggirello, who denied any involvement in the March 12 murder, was arrested without incident at 11:40 p.m., police said. He was held without bond at the Duval County jail.
Michael Connelly, "Victim's name still mystery," South Florida Sun Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale, FL], 16 April 1985, 3B.
A trip by detectives to Jacksonville to interview the jailed suspect in a month-old Fort Lauderdale murder case produced no leads to the victim's identity.
[...]
Detectives also were unable to find an accomplice in the murder. Detective Sgt. Dave Patterson said fingerprints found in the motel room where the victim was strangled indicate two men were in the room with him.
"Man convicted, victim still unidentified," Miami Herald, 5 April 1986, 10BR.
After deliberating 10 hours and 20 minutes, the jury found Peter Louis Ruggirello guilty of the March 11 murder at the Interlude motel, 1215 S. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale.
[...]
Ruggirello was arrested in Jacksonville April 9 after police received information from an informant who said Ruggirello had talked to him about the motel slaying.
An Interlude bookkeeper found the body of a naked man, covered with a red bedspread, in Room 11 of the motel the morning after the murder. A bloody handprint on the wall matched Ruggirello's.
During the trial, Ruggirello said a second man, Wayne Moore, strangled the unidentified man.
Police are still searching for Moore.
Katie Springer, "Murderer, 21, receives life sentence," Fort Lauderdale News, 9 April 1986, 4B.
Broward Circuit Judge Robert Tyson Jr. sentenced him to life in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 25 years, after the state indicated that it would not seek the death penalty.
Michael Connelly, "After 13 months, the dead man has no name," Fort Lauderdale News, 14 April 1986, 3B.
"We don't have anything, not a clue to who he was," said Edwina Johnson, an investigator for the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office. "We have gone to great lengths to find out. We've done everything we could think of and gotten no luck whatsoever. It would seem that somebody has to know who he was."
[...]
"There was nothing left in that room that could help us identify the victim," said Mundy. "The killers took it with them."
So the detective started with the dead man's fingerprints. They were sent to state and national agencies, to Canadian authorities and to Interpol for comparison. They got no matches.
[...]
"Nothing panned out. They weren't our guy," said Mundy. "Usually the description wouldn't match. We ran down a few of the names we got and found each guy was still alive and well."
[...]
Believing the victim had been a tourist, investigators checked with auto rental agencies in Broward in hopes of finding a report of an overdue car with the name of the murder victim on it. They visited local car towing agencies to check on abandoned vehicles that had been towed in the city after the murder. They found no clues.
"If he did rent a car, God knows where he rented it," said Mundy.
[...]
Mundy said Ruggirello never cooperated with investigators in providing the name of the murder victim. At his trial in Broward Circuit Court, Ruggirello said the man's name was Adam and that he had met him and Moore near the Backstreet bar on West Broward Boulevard near downtown. He denied being involved in the murder.
Prosecutor Peter LaPorte said an informant told authorities that Ruggirello once said the man's name was Henry Faulkner.
