PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – Nearly one year after a Putnam County mother was killed, investigators still haven’t made an arrest.
Nyeisha Nelson, 20, vanished sometime around Feb. 11, 2021, after dropping her 5-year-old daughter off at school. A week later, her remains were found in a shallow grave outside Crescent City. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Detectives say the list of persons of interest in the investigation has been narrowed down to a few people, but there is one person they are very interested in as a potential suspect.
While Nelson’s death remains a mystery, the search for her killer has never slowed down.
“I’ll tell you, for a case that’s a year old, this is the most active 1-year-old case that I’ve seen in my career,” said Col. Joe Wells, with the Sheriff’s Office.
Wells said the Sheriff’s Office is receiving help from the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, which profiles and identifies patterns of criminal behavior to help local law enforcement agencies narrow down a suspect or a specific person of interest.
“Certainly, that’s a huge asset they can bring to the table when we want them to consider various persons of interest,” Wells said.
Wells said although the list of persons of interest has narrowed down, there is one person in particular who is very much on their radar. News4JAX made an editorial decision not to name this person because he has not been formally identified as a suspect in Nelson’s murder. However, we can confirm the person of interest is a convicted sex offender with a criminal history that dates back to the 90s.
According to court documents, in 2000, he was convicted of sexual battery, false imprisonment and aggravated assault. He’s currently in prison serving a 5-year sentence after he was convicted of violating his sex offender probation by failing to adhere to sex offender registration requirements.
Detectives discovered the violation while initially considering him to be a person of interest following the discovery of Nelson’s body.
“She knew this subject and was an acquaintance of his,” Wells added. “It wasn’t a close relationship. They were not dating. But, she was certainly familiar with this particular person of interest.”
Wells says they won’t label this person of interest as a prime suspect and charge him with murder until they are 100% certain. Nelson’s mother, who lives in North Carolina, did not return requests for comment as of publication. She has been active on social media demanding justice for her daughter.