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#Post#: 1555--------------------------------------------------
FORT MYERS 5: Victim B, WM, 25-35 - One of eight skeletons found
in Fort Myers - March 2007
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:42 am
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HTML https://i.imgur.com/chDJNv9l.jpg
HTML https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/7630
Several skeletonized bodies within close proximity of each other
in a wooded area. The degree of skeletonization suggested death
occurred at least several years before the discovery of the
remains. This individual was most likely in his mid-twenties to
mid-thirties at the time of death.
#Post#: 1556--------------------------------------------------
Re: FORT MYERS 8: (Victim B) WM, 25-35 - One of eight
skeletonized bodies found in wooded area - Mar
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:43 am
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HTML http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/images/1033UMFL4_LARGE.jpg
#Post#: 1557--------------------------------------------------
Re: FORT MYERS 8: (Victim B) WM, 25-35 - One of eight
skeletonized bodies found in wooded area - Mar
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:43 am
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HTML http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1033umfl.html
HTML http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/images/1033UMFL.jpg<br
/>
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Date of Discovery: March 23, 2007
Location of Discovery: Fort Meyers, Lee County, Florida
Estimated Date of Death: 1987-2001
State of Remains: Skeletal
Cause of Death: Homicide
Physical Description
Estimated Age: 25-35 years old
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 5'6" to 6'2"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Healed right clavical fracture
and right fibula fracture, both nasal bones and a herniated
vertabrae.
Identifiers
Dentals: Available. He had no wisdom teeth and had two older
type crowns. He also had orthodontics, including the extraction
of four premolars.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Available.
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Unknown.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Circumstances of Discovery
On March 23, 2007, a land surveyor discovered two human skulls
in a wooded area near Rockfill and Arcadia Streets. Fort Myers
police, with the help of area agencies, cadaver dogs, and
forensic experts, recovered a total of eight sets of skeletal
remains. Investigators found no clothing nor remnants of
coffins, body bags or anything else that might be used to hold
human remains. There were no footprints or other signs that
anyone had recently been to the scene.
The men, who would become known as the "Fort Myers Eight," were
found within 50 yards of one another, and had been killed
sometime between 1987 and 2001. There was no skin or clothing
left on the remains. There were no signs of trauma immediately
evident.
A forensic examination of the remains indicated that all eight
were men ranging from 18 to 49 years old. Seven of the eight men
had first-rate dental care. One of the men was believed to have
been homeless or had a rough life based on bone damage and poor
dental care.
The area where the remains were located is owned by the City of
Fort Myers. The location is isolated and the roads consist
mostly of sandy dirt. Thanks to DNA, police were able to
identify three of the eight men - two in 2007, and another in
2008.
The remaining cases, in addition to this one are: 1031UMFL,
1035UMFL, 1036UMFL and 1037UMFL.
#Post#: 1558--------------------------------------------------
Re: FORT MYERS 8: (Victim B) WM, 25-35 - One of eight
skeletonized bodies found in wooded area - Mar
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:43 am
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HTML https://unidentified.wikia.org/wiki/Fort_Myers_John_Doe_(Victim_B)
[img]
HTML https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/unidentified/images/e/e3/Fortmyersjd4.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/200?cb=20190325223226[/img]
Fort Myers John Doe (Victim B)
Fort Myers John Doe was a man whose remains were found in 2007,
along with seven other men. Known as the Fort Myers Eight, five
of these men remain unidentified. They are possibly victims of
serial killer Daniel Conahan.
#Post#: 1559--------------------------------------------------
Re: FORT MYERS 8: (Victim B) WM, 25-35 - One of eight
skeletonized bodies found in wooded area - Mar
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:43 am
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HTML http://www.nbcnews.com/id/20236967/ns/nbc_nightly_news_with_brian_williams/t/gruesome-mystery-eight-skeletons-forest/
Eight unidentified skeletons found in Fla. forest
HTML http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070812/070812_trees_hmed_1p.grid-6x2.jpg
Stephanie Himango / NBC News - Eight human skeletons were
found in this melaleuca forest in Ft. Myers, FL.
FT MYERS, FLORIDA — On the morning of March 23rd, around 10
o'clock, Detective Sgt. Jennifer Soto received a phone call that
would lead her and other officers into a dark forest, and
involve them in an unsettling mystery.
The caller said a human skull had just been found in a thick
stand of melaleuca trees off Arcadia Road. At first, Soto and
her partner were skeptical, because the area had long been used
as a dumping ground by hunters disposing of hog and alligator
remains.
Walking through the thick brush, however, it didn't take long
for them to confirm the report was true. In fact, there was much
more than just one human skull.
"Immediately, the officers had discovered that where the one
skull was, there was a second. And within minutes I would say,
the third had been discovered," Soto recalled.
"By seven o'clock that night, when we had branched out, we had a
total of eight skeletons." When the news broke publicly, it drew
lots of attention. "It's kind of scary that you know there's all
these bodies," said Breanna Rohauer, an area resident.
An unusual crime scene
The first skull was discovered about 50 yards from a dirt road
by an ecologist who was surveying the land for a developer. He
was the man who called police.
Advertise
The eight skulls and more than a thousand other bones collected
by investigators were scattered around a 200-square yard area,
most of them hidden by roots, plants, leaves and other ground
cover. None of the bodies had been buried.
The Ft. Myers Police Department declared the area a crime scene,
and called the Florida Department of Law Enforcement--the state
police--for assistance.
"It's just not normal to have eight bodies in a wooded area,
that's just not normal," said Soto. For the next weeks, officers
from several other departments helped with the meticulous search
of the area. They used screens to sift through the dirt, set up
grids, and brought in cadaver dogs to help find the remains.
One of the dogs was named Bones.
By studying the plants and insects found nearby, a botanist and
an entomologist helped determine how long ago the bodies ended
up here. A forensic dentist also lent her expertise.
Forensic anthropologist Heather Walsh-Haney, from Florida Gulf
Coast University, was invited to map out the scene, and to
predict where bones may have been carried away by groundwater
and animals.
"The amounts of remains we found here was remarkable," she said.
"I'd say we have about 90 percent of each and every skeleton."
In previous years, Walsh-Haney had helped identify the victims
of the 9-11 World Trade Center attack, the Valujet airplane
crash and Hurricane Katrina. Even for her the Ft. Myers scene
was unusual, because no one knew the victims' histories.
"This is different in that we don't know what happened, what
brought these individuals here," she said.
Some details, but no names
After combing through the scene, and working inside the Lee
County Medical Examiners Office, experts were able to determine
that all of the victims were white males, perhaps some of them
Hispanic. Their ages ranged from 18 to 49.
It was estimated they were placed in the woods between 1980 and
2000.
All but one of the victims had good teeth, and had obviously
taken care of them. "That told me," said Walsh-Haney, "that they
had the wherewithal, the finances, to seek out what can be very
expensive dental work."
Investigators say no clothing was found, nor was there any
evidence of the medical paraphernalia that would typically come
from funeral homes. Dr. Walsh-Haney said she found evidence of
healed bone fractures on some of the skeletal remains, but would
not say whether she found any evidence to indicate how the men
died.
Many theories but no conclusions
The police say while they don't know what happened years ago in
the melaleuca forest, they have been presented with a number of
theories.
Most prevalent, and quite upsetting to many local residents, is
the idea a serial killer may have used the area to lure or hide
his victims. Some suggest this could be the work of an
unscrupulous funeral home director who dumped bodies in the
woods rather than dispose of them properly.
Other theories involve victims of human trafficking or mass
suicides. A few ideas suggested by the public are even more
inventive.
"We have heard everything from people believing that it was the
plane that went missing in the Bermuda Triangle, to a mob hit in
Tampa, to children who went missing on a spring break trip,"
said Soto. Although there have been widely reported serial
killing and funeral home investigations in Southwest Florida in
the past, detectives insist they are not embracing any one
theory, but are meticulously gathering evidence, and are
following wherever it might lead.
"I simply can't work on speculations. I have to focus on the
facts, and until I know them, I can't take this in a direction,"
said Soto. "To do so would be reckless at this point in time."
Identification the key
Most frustrating for police is that they have not yet been able
to identify any of the eight victims. Investigators believe once
they learn the name of just one person the case will accelerate.
"We've got to figure out who these people were before we can
move forward," said Soto. "Were they all connected? Did these
eight people know each other, or were they simply random people
who had no interlinkings?"
At the medical examiner's office, Walsh-Haney, the forensic
anthropologist, analyzed the skeletal remains in order to come
up with the sex and estimated ages of the victims.
Advertise
From the bones, experts are now gathering DNA samples, while
other specialists are measuring the skulls in order to build
models that attempt to replicate the victims' faces.
"What that first identification will do for us in terms of the
investigation is give us a name," Walsh-Haney said. "With that
name come family members and friends who may have known where
this individual was when he was last seen."
Police are asking the public for help, and are urging anyone
with a missing relative who matches the descriptions and time
frame of the case to contact them. They may be asked to give a
cheek DNA swab.
Soto said all leads are investigated, adding that some new ones
are currently being checked. "I review every tip that comes in."
"A cold case to say the least"
With the searches complete, and detectives and forensic experts
away from the scene now, the stand of melaleuca trees near
Arcadia Road sits in eerie silence. Only a few areas that were
scraped clear by investigators, and some left-over strips of
yellow police crime tape hint at the massive search here.
Police describe their effort as the largest excavation of human
skeletal remains in Florida history. While they are still trying
to learn crucial details, investigators are treating the case as
a criminal investigation. They also assure the public that
there is no need for alarm, because the evidence suggests that
whatever happened here occurred years ago.
"This is a cold case to say the least," said Walsh-Haney. "But
I have to keep telling myself that this is never a cold case to
a family member."
With that in mind, the pursuit of this Florida mystery proceeds,
with a team of detectives and experts working hard for that one
break--that one name.
#Post#: 1560--------------------------------------------------
Re: FORT MYERS 8: (Victim B) WM, 25-35 - One of eight
skeletonized bodies found in wooded area - Mar
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:44 am
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HTML https://www.nbc-2.com/story/10689142/two-of-eight-skeletons-found-in-fort-myers-identified
Two of eight skeletons found in Fort Myers identified
Monday, November 19th 2007, 7:01 PM EST
Updated: Tuesday, November 20th 2007, 5:42 PM EST
Two of the eight skeletons found in Fort Myers on March 23 have
been identified through a DNA match. They are the remains of
Erik Kohler and John C. Blevins.
FORT MYERS: Two of the eight skeletons found in Fort Myers on
March 23 have been identified through a DNA match. They are the
remains of Erik Kohler and John C. Blevins.
HTML https://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/wbbh/archived_story_images/15916-mug_071120_kohler.jpg
Kohler was reported missing in October 1995. According to the
National Center for Missing Adults record, Kohler was last seen
last seen in the vicinity of the 1100 block of Winston St. in
Port Charlotte, FL. He said he was going to a friend's home and
never returned.
Kohler was arrested several times in Lee County, including on
September 28, 1995, just days before he disappeared. He was
arrested in September for having an open container on August 13,
1995. His family did not report him missing until June 24, 1999.
John Blevins, who went missing in 1995, was never reported
missing. His family only reported him missing once investigators
revealed the skeletons were found in March.
Family members submitted samples of the men to the University of
North Texas Human Identification Center. They matched two
samples extracted from the bones.
An ecologist discovered human remains in a wooded area off
Arcadia Road in Fort Myers on March 23, 2007. During their
search of the area, Fort Myers Police discovered additional sets
of human remains - eight in all.
The six other skeletal remains have not been identified.
If you have any information in the case, contact the Fort Myers
Police Department at 344-4155. If you knew either of these men,
click here to contact us.
#Post#: 1561--------------------------------------------------
Re: FORT MYERS 8: (Victim B) WM, 25-35 - One of eight
skeletonized bodies found in wooded area - Mar
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:44 am
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HTML https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2008-09-29-0809290127-story.html
Hunt is over, but not the horror
HTML https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2011/167/52627997_130835843601.jpg
Jonathan Tihay
When Natalie Worthington's brother disappeared in South Florida
in 1995, the family desperately wanted to know what had happened
to him.
But when his skeleton turned up in a mass grave, the Montgomery
woman wished she didn't know.
The remains of Jonathan Tihay, a former Aurora drug addict and
drifter, were discovered in a wooded area in Ft. Myers, Fla.,
last year, along with the remains of seven other homicide
victims. The body of Tihay, who was 24 when he disappeared, was
positively identified through DNA, police announced last week.
As heart-wrenching as that discovery was to Worthington, what
may have led to her brother's death was worse.
While police haven't named a suspect in the deaths, they have
not ruled out Daniel Owen Conahan Jr., a Florida man on Death
Row for a 1996 slaying of a vagrant who was found tied to a tree
-- strangled, raped and sexually mutilated.
Conahan -- who reportedly lived in the Chicago area for years
after being booted out of the Navy in the face of sodomy and
assault charges -- maintains his innocence.
"When you read about that, it makes you sick to your stomach to
think about a human dying that way, and someone that you know
and you love," said Worthington, 30. "That was the worst --
finding out about [Conahan]. I wish they had never told me."
Worthington is preparing to have her brother's body cremated and
the ashes returned to the Fox River Valley. She recently talked
about his life while contemplating the terrifying mystery that
surrounds his death.
Tihay grew up in Aurora, living with his mother, stepfather and
Worthington, who was eight years younger. She remembers her
brother as a good kid who liked to tease.
When he was a junior at West Aurora High School, his mother and
stepfather divorced, and the two children moved with their
mother, Rose DuMont, to Ft. Myers. After a year, Worthington
returned to live with her father. Tihay stayed in Florida.
Away from the influence of his stepfather, Tihay slipped into
petty crime. "When my mom took us, she was an alcoholic, so she
let him run wild," Worthington said. "It all went downhill from
there. He got into the wrong group. He got mixed up in drugs."
Tihay burglarized his mother's restaurant and storage unit in
Florida and stole from his grandmother in Aurora, Worthington
said. In 1991, he spent six months behind bars in Kane County
and then in the Joliet Correctional Center on charges of
damaging property.
Linda Van Plew, a neighbor of the family in Aurora, said her
family was close to Jonathan Tihay. He'd phone her every week
when he lived in Florida, up until the time he vanished. She
recalled him saying, "Linda, I'm doing really good. I stopped
the drugs."
"OK, well, how's the alcohol?" she asked. "That's not so good,"
he told her.
Tihay had moved out of his mother's house by that time, but he
frequently called her. That stopped in 1995, and soon the family
tried to file a missing person report. But police had little
interest in tracking down a transient drug addict who had
vanished, Worthington said.
Last year, their mother -- who was suffering from pneumonia and
malnutrition related to alcoholism -- returned to Illinois. She
died in October without learning her son's fate.
Then in January, her former roommate in Ft. Myers called
Worthington to tell her about what she saw on TV: An ecological
surveyor had stumbled across a grave with eight skeletons in
March 2007, and the site was just 11/2 miles from their Ft.
Myers home.
Worthington called the police and reached Detective Barry Lewis,
who wanted to know if Tihay had ever broken any bones. Though
she and her brother were young when it happened, Worthington
remembered that he had fractured his wrist during a football
game in their yard.
Sure enough, the skeleton had a wrist with a fracture that had
healed.
Ft. Myers police already had extracted DNA from all eight
bodies, and the two they identified had, like Tihay, been white,
male drifters with petty crime records. So, Tihay seemed to fit
the pattern.
The detective flew to Illinois in March and took a DNA swab of
Worthington's mouth. The test wasn't conclusive because she was
a half-sister, but "we were fishing in the right pond," Lewis
said.
Because Tihay's parents were dead, there seemed to be no way to
get DNA, short of exhumation, and Worthington balked at that.
But, Lewis said, Worthington told him, "I still have some of
mom's stuff, and in that is a hairbrush."
The DNA from the hair matched.
Then Worthington learned of Conahan. He was convicted of killing
Richard Montgomery in 1996 and initially had been linked to the
so-called Hog Trail Murders -- five bodies found in nearby
Charlotte County, according to news reports. Authorities
ultimately did not find sufficient evidence to pursue him in
those cases, and instead focused on the Montgomery slaying, the
Charlotte County sheriff's office said.
But Conahan's name emerged in the Ft. Myers case because, during
his 1999 trial, a drifter named Stanley Burden testified that
Conahan had tied him naked to a tree and tried to strangle him
at a site near the mass grave in which Tihay was found.
Christina Spudeas, Conahan's attorney, said Friday that her
client has "absolutely no connection" to the Ft. Myers case or
any other slaying.
As authorities continue to investigate, Worthington's family --
including her sister and another half-brother -- mourn. Despite
the violent death, Worthington finds some comfort. "We are going
to be able to put him at rest," she said.
#Post#: 1562--------------------------------------------------
Re: FORT MYERS 8: (Victim B) WM, 25-35 - One of eight
skeletonized bodies found in wooded area - Mar
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:44 am
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HTML https://www.winknews.com/2017/10/14/remains-of-8-humans-were-found-in-fort-myers-a-decade-ago-5-still-unidentified/
Remains of 8 humans were found in Fort Myers a decade ago, 5
still unidentified
FORT MYERS, Fla. It was once said to be the largest excavation
of human remains in Florida history. And Fort Myers Police call
it their most challenging case ever.
Eight unidentified human skeletal remains were found in the
woods off Arcadia Street more than ten years ago.
In 2007 a land surveyor stumbled across a skull. Since then,
only three of the eight bodies have been identified.
Forensic Anthropologist Heather Walsh-Haney recalls that day.
She walked through the brush to the location where the remains
were found to find law enforcement investigating eight sets of
human bones. All of the remains were found in the same area and
all were buried under ground.
“I remembered thinking that this was a wooded area, very similar
to many cases I had worked throughout Florida, where it was an
area that was secluded and it would be an area that would be
easy to hide a crime.” Walsh-Haney said.
It’s a crime that has remained an unsolved since the morning of
March 23, 2007. Police are still trying to find out who these
men are, how they were murdered, who killed them, and why.
Many of the victims were young men between 20 and 40. Most of
them had healed fractures to their arms, their legs, their ribs,
even their face. Walsh-Haney says these signs prove the eight
men had fallen on difficult times. “Something happened in their
life history to have them change direction because that health
status, their dental health, their skeletal health, was that of
people who lived very hard”
Over the past decade three of them have been identified –
Jonathan Tihay, Erric Kohler and John Blevins.
“He said I’m going to go out for a little while and said ill be
back and he never showed back” Blevins mother told wink news,
she said he visited Fort Myers in the mid 90s and vanished. She
gave DNA to investigators, and it matched.
The five other men, with no clothes or baggage, remain
unidentified.
Blevins mother added, “Its been a decade. Theres not a year that
goes by that I don’t think about the men.”
While Fort Myers Police have talked with WINK about the case in
the past — they declined to comment for this story. They said
they have no new information to provide.
#Post#: 1563--------------------------------------------------
Re: FORT MYERS 8: (Victim B) WM, 25-35 - One of eight
skeletonized bodies found in wooded area - Mar
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 11, 2020, 2:44 am
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HTML https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Daniel_Conahan.jpg/200px-Daniel_Conahan.jpg
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Conahan
Daniel Owen Conahan Jr. is a convicted American murderer and
suspected serial killer. Conahan was convicted of one murder but
has been linked to over a dozen murders, mostly of homosexual
men in the Charlotte County, Florida area in what came to be
known as the Hog Trail Murders.
Early life and career
Conahan was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and moved with his
family to Punta Gorda, Florida shortly after birth. His parents
expressed displeasure at his homosexuality during his high
school years and sent him to a psychiatrist. He graduated Miami
Norland High School in 1973 and joined the United States Navy in
1977, stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes in Illinois. In
1978, he was nearly court-martialed for homosexual solicitation
and was discharged a few months later after more homosexual
behavior triggered a large fight.[1]
After his Navy discharge, Conahan stayed in Chicago for 13 years
before moving back to Punta Gorda to live with his elderly
parents in 1993. In 1995, he became a licensed practical nurse,
graduating at the top of his class from Charlotte
Vocational-Technical Center.[1] He was employed by Charlotte
Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda.[2]
Murders
On February 1, 1994, the mutilated corpse of a man was
discovered in Punta Gorda. The body had been outside for about a
month and had rope burns on the skin and the genitalia had been
removed and discarded. The man was never identified.[3] On
January 1, 1996, a North Port family's dog brought home a male
human skull. Police eventually pieced together much of a
skeleton and determined that the genitalia had been cut out,
similar to the 1994 victim. The North Port skeleton was also
never identified.[4] A third man's mutilated body was discovered
in North Port on March 7, 1996. He had been killed only 10 days
earlier.[5] He also remained unidentified until June 1999 when
he was identified as John William Melaragno.[6]
Another man's skull was found in Charlotte County on April 17,
1996. Police searched the surrounding woods and found the rest
of the man as well as a second body. The second was a man who
had been raped, murdered and mutilated only the day before, and
was identified as Richard Allen Montgomery.[7][8][9] The first
body was later identified as Kenneth Lee Smith.[10][11]
Speculation became rampant about a serial killer and the media
dubbed the murders "The Hog Trail Killings".[11]
Arrest
In May 1996, a few witnesses directed police to Daniel Conahan,
including one who had escaped him when Conahan's car became
stuck while driving him down a dirt road.[12] Later, police
linked Conahan to a 1994 Fort Myers police report where Stanley
Burden had been propositioned, tied to a tree, and nearly
strangled. Burden survived and even had rope scars on his body
two years later. Conahan's credit cards were subpoenaed and his
house was searched turning up evidence linking him to Burden and
Richard Montgomery. On July 3, 1996, Conahan was arrested and
brought to Lee County for the attempted murder of Burden.[13]
The following February, he was charged with the murder of
Montgomery while the Burden attempted murder charges were
dropped.[6][7]
While Conahan awaited trial, another skeleton was found in
Charlotte County on May 22, 1997. 10 months later, DNA
identified the remains as William Charles Patten who had
disappeared in 1993.[14]
Trial and more skeletons
In Punta Gorda, Conahan waived his right to a jury trial on
August 9, 1999. The star witness was Stanley Burden who had been
nearly killed in 1994. Conahan's attorney rebutted that Burden
was an imprisoned pedophile, serving a 10- to 25-year sentence
in Ohio.[15] On August 17, 1999, Judge William Blackwell
deliberated for 25 minutes and found Conahan guilty of
first-degree premeditated murder and kidnapping.[16] Conahan
succeeded in moving the penalty phase of his trial to Collier
County but, in November, a jury recommended a sentence of death
and Judge Blackwell agreed on December 10.[17]
Several more bodies were discovered in the Charlotte County area
with similarities to the Hog Trail Killings: one in 2000, two in
2001, and one in 2002.[18][19] On March 23, 2007, eight skulls
and skeletal remains were found in a wooded area in Fort Myers,
the largest such discovery in Florida history.[20][21] Although
a connection to a closed funeral home was considered possible,
speculation soon turned to Conahan. Stanley Burden, the star
witness at Conahan's trial, had been attacked within a mile of
the site where the eight skeletons were found.[22] Two were
later identified as men who had disappeared in 1995.[23]
Conahan is currently housed at Union Correctional Institution in
Raiford, Florida.[22]
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