PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – Sheriff H.D. “Gator” DeLoach announced Friday the identity of a man in a 43-year-old cold case murder. William Irving Monroe III died from a gunshot wound to the neck a few weeks before his partial buried body was discovered on December 4, 1980. A Putnam County deputy on routine patrol found the body in the area of Sisco Road and Broward Lake Road in Pomona Park.
The man had no identification on him and through interviews it was believed he was a migrant worker. He was last seen alive on November 15, 1980 when a convenience store clerk said she saw him in her store. The driver for Simmons’ Labor Camp in Pomona Park confirmed he had picked up a man with the same clothing description as the victim to work at a farm three days prior to his disappearance.
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For all that time, he was known as John Doe #36 and was buried with a metal marker in the Lake Como/Pomona Park cemetery.
In February 2023, Capt. Chris Stallings reviewed this case and sent DNA that was found in the evidence to a lab. That’s how William Monroe was identified.
A family member confirmed Monroe stopped contacting them in 1980 but they didn’t know where he went. The family member also gave information about William’s children, ex-wife and his service as a United States Marine during Vietnam.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information on William Irving Monroe III, his time in Putnam County or his murder, to contact CrimeStoppers of Northeast Florida at 1-888-227-8477.