FL FL - Monroe County - Male UP15460 - Age 16-17 - 9 May 1991

[JSolt1210]

The following is from Have you seen this child? JOHN MONROE DOE 1991

Date Found: May 9, 1991
Location Found: Monroe County, FL
Estimated Age: 16-17
Sex: Male
Race: Hispanic
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Estimated Height: 5'2"
Estimated Weight: 90 lbs

On May 9, 1991 an unidentified male was found floating in the Atlantic Ocean in Monroe County, Florida. He had been deceased for less than a day. The male is estimated to have been 16-17 years old at the time of his death. He stood approximately 5’2” tall. He was found wearing grey pants over top red gym shorts with a white stripe. He also wore a yellow colored necklace with a black cross around his neck. The image above is a facial reconstruction created by a NCMEC Forensic Artist and depicts what the male may have looked like in life.
______________________________

He's also in NAMUS, where there's a close-up of the cross (though not of him, just in case).

I couldn't find any more information with a Google search, and I don't know what contemporary newspapers to look through.

Ten days from today will mark exactly 28 years since he was found—which means May 9th was also a Thursday in '91. A comment I read elsewhere states that if he was deceased less than a day, someone has to know something, and I tend to agree.

 

[JasonFutchLakeCityFL]

I can’t find any info other than the NamUs and NCMEC profile on this man. Not event Crimewatchers has anything on it. It’s hard to tell which newspapers to check for because it isn’t specific where he was found. I’ll check some of the old Keys newspapers and see if I can find something.

 

[JSolt1210]

I can’t find any info other than the NamUs and NCMEC profile on this man. Not event Crimewatchers has anything on it. It’s hard to tell which newspapers to check for because it isn’t specific where he was found. I’ll check some of the old Keys newspapers and see if I can find something.

Thank you! Yeah I was so disappointed by the lack of information available. But there had to be something on the day or two after the discovery—an article, a brief mention in a newspaper of a body having been found.

I'm from New York City so I wouldn't even know where to begin to look in FL. But even right now as I type this, we've just learned up here of the skeletal remains of a male found this weekend near one of our bridges. No name, no ID, no nothing. But the New York Post and AM New York are covering it. I imagine the same had to go for this young man back then.

 

[JasonFutchLakeCityFL]

Thank you! Yeah I was so disappointed by the lack of information available. But there had to be something on the day or two after the discovery—an article, a brief mention in a newspaper of a body having been found.

I'm from New York City so I wouldn't even know where to begin to look in FL. But even right now as I type this, we've just learned up here of the skeletal remains of a male found this weekend near one of our bridges. No name, no ID, no nothing. But the New York Post and AM New York are covering it. I imagine the same had to go for this young man back then.

Unfortunately, I checked newspapers as far as Miami and Tallahassee around the dates listed. Nothing :/

 

[JSolt1210]

Unfortunately, I checked newspapers as far as Miami and Tallahassee around the dates listed. Nothing :/

Wow! That's just so frustrating and disheartening! Maybe the media didn't think it would make good news so they didn't cover it. Thanks so much for looking into it, though. I imagine checking all those papers was very time-consuming, and I really appreciate it.

 

[MudaMudaMuda]

5 feet 2 and 90lbs seems a little... off for a 17-year-old boy?

I've been wondering if he was:
1) AFAB/on T
2) A victim of the 1990s Cuban exodus
3) Below the estimate age range (growth spurts didn't start/only just started)

 

[SpanishMossAntiques]

5 feet 2 and 90lbs seems a little... off for a 17-year-old boy?

I've been wondering if he was:
1) AFAB/on T
2) A victim of the 1990s Cuban exodus
3) Below the estimate age range (growth spurts didn't start/only just started)

I was living there then, and don't recall ever hearing that a body was recovered. Chances are he is indeed a Cuban immigrant: It was common there to find a non-US boat floating far out at sea with not a soul on it. If the Coast Guard (or US military, or even a container ship or tanker) rescued its occupants they would automatically sink the vessel. So, chances are those people who had been sailing either fell off, were swept overboard, or were attacked and abducted by pirates (back then there were many pirates in the area, and I knew of more than a few people who went out to sea and not only never returned, but no trace of them or their boat was ever found; in many of these cases other locals stated the missing were involved in drugs, firearms, etc and they'd heard they and their cargo were captured and killed by the pirates). Anyway, if any notice of this unidentified young man's body were posted it would probably be in the former Keynoter newspaper, or the Key West Citizen. In addition, US1 Radio may have a record of it as they reported the news, and back then many of us islanders were anchored to listening to that radio station...

 

[MudaMudaMuda]

I was living there then, and don't recall ever hearing that a body was recovered. Chances are he is indeed a Cuban immigrant: It was common there to find a non-US boat floating far out at sea with not a soul on it. If the Coast Guard (or US military, or even a container ship or tanker) rescued its occupants they would automatically sink the vessel. So, chances are those people who had been sailing either fell off, were swept overboard, or were attacked and abducted by pirates (back then there were many pirates in the area, and I knew of more than a few people who went out to sea and not only never returned, but no trace of them or their boat was ever found; in many of these cases other locals stated the missing were involved in drugs, firearms, etc and they'd heard they and their cargo were captured and killed by the pirates). Anyway, if any notice of this unidentified young man's body were posted it would probably be in the former Keynoter newspaper, or the Key West Citizen. In addition, US1 Radio may have a record of it as they reported the news, and back then many of us islanders were anchored to listening to that radio station...

I see!
Sadly, I believe it's hard to get sources from all the way back then easily unless you pay but idk...
Do you believe he was a possible immigrant (Somewhat like the "Kathia" case I read up) or could it have been suicide by drowning or something else?

 

[MudaMudaMuda]

Might seem to be jumping into it too much but is there a possibility that this victim was transgender, given the height and weight?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Poor young man. I just saw his case on social media.
My heart goes out to him and his family. I hope he'll be identified and his family can find out what happened to him, but then again, they will be devastated.
I feel he was a migrant. I hope he wasn't a victim (of trafficking or worse). He deserved a chance, a safe life. RIP.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping case up.

 

[PatLaurel]

UP15460 - Newspapers.com

 

[JSolt1210]

UP15460 - Newspapers.com
View attachment 428861

Oh wow, thank you so much for finding this! At least there was some coverage.

But ugh, if he was a Cuban refugee, then maybe he was never reported missing because sadly his family might not even know he's now deceased. He could also still have living relatives in Cuba.

 

[PatLaurel]

Oh wow, thank you so much for finding this! At least there was some coverage.

But ugh, if he was a Cuban refugee, then maybe he was never reported missing because sadly his family might not even know he's now deceased. He could also still have living relatives in Cuba.

Missing Cubans and the dates they left the island. - Newspapers.com

These three teenagers and the 22 yo man left Cuba on May 8, according to this website. There may be some conflict regarding the dates they actually left though. I noticed that some of the refugees have the dates they went missing as the dates they are thought to have lost their lives ( based on testimony of survivors or news articles reporting bodies found).


Magdiel González Bello, nacido 15 de diciembre 1974, desaparecido 8 de mayo 1991 (16). Junto a otros diez balseros, todos vecinos y familiares, desapareció intentando llegar a territorio norteamericano; en este grupo solo hubo un sobreviviente, residente en EU. Residía en el Romerillo, Playa. AFACUDE

Albis Fuentes Morales, nacido 1975, desaparecido 8 de mayo 1991 (16). Residía en Jaimanitas, Playa. Este grupo de balseros tuvo un sobreviviente, Osvaldo Cuellar Concepción.
(Albis has two different dates listed, March 28 and May 8)

Alexander Pérez Batista, nacido 4 de junio 1974, desaparecido 8 de mayo 1991 (17). Residía en Romerillo. AFACUDE

http://database.cubaarchive.org/case-record-simple-search/1395/

Juan Carlos Torres Torres, nacido 10 de diciembre 1968, desaparecido 8 de mayo 1991 (22); junto a un grupo de amigos y vecinos intentó arribar a costas norteamericanas a bordo de una embarcación rudimentaria. Residía en Romerillo. AFACUDE

MOO JMO

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping case up. Sadly I think it's unlikely he'll be identified, but does he have any exclusions?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[beavt]

Bumping case up. Sadly I think it's unlikely he'll be identified, but does he have any exclusions?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Zero exclusions