PALM COAST, Fla. – Months after a team of anthropologists began piecing together skeletal fragments found at a Palm Coast construction site in July, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office released two computer-generated images on Wednesday of what the man might have looked like.
Investigators, who have not ruled out foul play in the case, are asking for the community’s help to identify the man.
Recommended Videos
The investigation began in July when a construction worker called 911 from the Toscana Development saying he thought he found a human femur, which caused all construction to pause.
Dr. Erin Kimmerle’s team from the Florida Institute of Anthropology and Applied Science at the University of South Florida brought in specialized equipment to sift through the dirt at the site.
Kimmerle’s team determined the man was African-American or mixed-race between the ages of 35 and 50. No other physical indicators have been determined at this point in the investigation, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Kimmerle’s team provided the Sheriff’s Office with the computer-generated images of the man -- one with facial hair and one without.
Investigators have not determined the man’s cause of death or discovered when he died, but they have determined that he does not match any missing persons reported to the Sheriff’s Office.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said he hopes the images will lead to tips that may bring an answer to those questions and many others surrounding this mystery as the investigation continues.
“We knew that it was going to take some time to identify this man,” Staly said in a news release. “We are now one step closer with a lot of work still to be done. These kinds of cases take time to solve, especially considering how the remains were found. Our Cold Case detectives and Dr. Kimmerle’s team have done terrific work getting us to this point. We’re hoping someone recognizes these images as someone they may know.”
The FCSO’s Cold Case Unit and the Medical Examiner’s Office continue to pursue other leads in this case, including DNA testing. Once a DNA profile has been developed, it will be compared to DNA profiles in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database, where it will be compared to other DNA profiles on file in the hopes of determining this man’s identity.
Anyone with information on the possible identification of this man is urged to contact the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office at 386-313-4911 or Crime Stoppers at 888-277-TIPS (8477). Emails can also be submitted to Tips@FlaglerSheriff.com.