8 Male Skeletons found 3/23/07 Ft. Myers, FL (3 identified)

[MSE]

Third set of bones found in Fort Myers over a year ago identified
By ELIZABETH WRIGHT (Contact)
Originally published 12:48 p.m., Thursday, September 18, 2008
Updated 6:35 p.m., Thursday, September 18, 2008

 
John James Tihay
 
Photo of skeletal “C”
Photo Gallery
Facial Reconstructions: Bodies found in Fort Myers woods
The recreated faces of eight missing men who authorities say were murdered and dumped in a wooded area of Fort Myers last year stared out in a silent plea for relatives to recognize them at a press conference at City Hall on Friday. The recreations were funded by the television show “America’s Most Wanted” and performed by Sharon Long, a forensic artist from the University of Wyoming.

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     FORT MYERS — The last time anyone heard from Jonathan Tihay was in 1995.

He was in his mid-20s, working odd jobs and running into the law on occasion. After bouncing from place to place in Florida, he had ended up in North Fort Myers.

Then he disappeared.

His family — a mother, a half-sister and an aunt — tried unsuccessfully over the next decade to find out what happened to him.

They still had no answers when a land surveyor stumbled across a set of eight skulls and other skeletal remains off Arcadia Road in Fort Myers last March.

Tihay’s mother, who had moved back to Illinois, died before the search to identify the bodies caught national attention.

But she still played a role in solving a piece of the mystery, as it was a DNA sample from a hairbrush she left behind that tied her son to one of those sets of bones.

“Unfortunately, she passed away, and never had some closure,” said Barry Lewis, a detective with the Fort Myers Police Department, which is investigating the case.

With this most recent identification — the third the department has made so far — Lewis said it can only move things forward.

All the deaths have been ruled homicides by a medical examiner, and a criminal investigation is ongoing, though Lewis declined to discuss specifics.

“Every time we identify one of the eight, it puts us in a better direction,” he said. “It does give us a little more insight. Now we know a little bit about the lifestyle of these individuals.”

In late 2007, two other remains were identified. One was John Blevins. The other was Erik Kohler.

All the remains found on the vacant lot were of men, likely in their 20s to 40s, and the eight skulls were found within about 300 feet of each other. After thorough searching, authorities do not believe there are any other remains to be found on the property.

In late 1995 — which is the best guess Lewis has for when the men died — the area was a deserted part of the county.

“There was nothing out there at the time. It was a dirt path, a power line. You may have got some people that drove down for whatever reason, maybe hunting,” he said.

Not many details are known about Tihay, who would be 37 if he were alive today.

He had spent some of his teenage years in Illinois, but mostly lived in Florida.

“He was more or less a transient fellow, lived here and there. He was kind of in the wind a little a bit,” Lewis said. “He went missing in all likelihood in 1995, according to the family and some jail records. He had some minor scrapes with the law. I think his most serious offense was a burglary.”

At the time he went missing, there was a warrant out on him for violation of probation.

The family did not file a missing person report, which Lewis said would not be that unusual.

“They did their own checking,” he said. “They did try and make attempts to make communication with people that he knew and hung out with.”

With time, Lewis said more DNA matches will come for the remaining sets of bones.

“I do believe that all eight will be identified at some time. DNA is kind of a wonderful thing,” he said. “We’ve just scratched the surface. It may be just a little bit more tedious. We just haven’t contacted the right person, or the right person hasn’t contacted us.”

He said he hoped this latest identification will lead to more people coming forward.

“If somebody is missing a family member and they are just waiting for someone to surface, or waiting for someone to come to them, they should come forward, to just submit DNA and have it put in the database,” he said.

With or without a formal missing person report, families can still submit DNA samples, and Lewis said any local police department should be able to help arrange for that.

Altogether, it took about eight months to identify Tihay’s remains, even after relatives got in touch with detectives.

The half-sister living in Illinois had heard about the case and provided her DNA as a sample. The results that came back gave a strong hint — but no definitive answer — on whether her half-brother was among the victims found in Fort Myers.

“She’s a half sister, so we’re dealing a little less DNA,” Lewis said, describing how her sample was compared against samples from leg bones found on the vacant lot. “It was in the ballpark, the DNA was close, but it wasn’t enough.”

It wasn’t until the results came back from Tihay’s mother’s brush that a final identification could be made. He said “hundreds” of families from around the country have contacted the department so far, and help categorizing leads has come from interns who are studying anthropology and criminal justice at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Lewis would not discuss any potential suspects in the investigation, and said he “really can’t speak” to what’s next in the investigation — or even whether any possibilities have been ruled in or out.

“That’s probably something that we wouldn’t openly discuss,” he said. “I would just say that were getting both family reference information, and we’re getting information relative to the criminal investigation.”

Anyone with information can call the Fort Myers Police Department at (239) 321-7700.

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/sep/18/dna-test-identifies-third-victim-fort-myers-bones-/

[Nut44x4]

September 29, 2008 Monday
Chicagoland Final Edition

Hunt is over, but not the horror;
A missing man's skeleton turns up in a mass grave, fueling new suspicions over how he was slain

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.

- - -

Remains found of man missing for 13 years

Nov. 7, 1970

Tihay is born in Aurora.

Summer 1987

Tihay moves to Ft. Myers, Fla., with his sister and his mother, Rose DuMont.

March-November 1991

Back in Illinois, Tihay is jailed in Kane County and then the Joliet Correctional Center on charges of damaging property.

October 1995

Tihay disappears in Florida.

March 23, 2007 An ecologist stumbles upon the remains of eight people in Ft. Myers.

November 2007

Police identify two of the deceased as drifters John Blevins, who lived in greater Ft. Myers, and Erik Kohler of Port Charlotte, Fla., both of whom had disappeared in 1995.

January 2008

DuMont's former roommate hears about the bones and calls Tihay's sister, Natalie Worthington of Montgomery.

March 2008

Officials take a DNA sample from Worthington.

Sept. 18, 2008

Ft. Myers police announce that one of the skeletons is Tihay's.
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:859563751&start=3

[Nut44x4]

Police release new sketches of murder victims
4-14-09

FORT MYERS: The Fort Myers Police Department has issued new sketches of the five remaining unidentified victims whose skeletal remains were found March 23, 2007 in a wooded area off Arcadia Street in Fort Myers.

In general, all of the skeletons are of white males between the ages of 18 and 49 and were between 5’0" and 6’4" and were placed at the Arcadia Street site between 1980 and 2000.

So far, only three of the eight victims have been identified.

Forensic artist Sheri Dunaske of the Lee County Sheriff's Office created the sketches.

If you recognize any of the victims, contact the Fort Myers Police Department of 321-7700.

Individual one (A): White male in late 20s to early 40s between 5’2" and 5’7". During his lifetime he had injuries to both calves, ankles and forearms. He had healed fractures to his ribs and chest. He probably led a transient lifestyle before his death. He had large unfilled cavities, an abscess, old silver fillings and periodontal disease. He had three out of four wisdom teeth.

Individual two (B): White male between the ages of 20 and 39, between 5’6" and 6’0" tall. He had a well healed fracture to the right calf, specifically the fibula, as well as fractures to the nose and right collar bone. He had no wisdom teeth and had two older type crowns. He also had orthodontics, including the extraction of four premolars.

Individual three (C): Identified as Jon James Tihay

Individual four (D): Identified as John Blevins

Individual five (E): Identified as Erik Kohler

Individual six (F): White male in his late 20s to early 40s between 5’5" and 5’11" tall and may have had back and hip pain. He had no silver fillings, two composite fillings in his posterior teeth of an old material. All four wisdom teeth are present.

Individual seven (G): White male possibly of Hispanic lineage in his 20s or 30s and was between 5’11" and 6’ 3". He had a fracture to his right wrist or forearm. He had current dental work and silver fillings on his posterior teeth. He has all four wisdom teeth.

Individual eight (H): White male in his 20s or 30s between 5’6" and 6’0". Muscle markings on the bones indicate he was an athlete or had a job involving heavy lifting. He had silver fillings and four wisdom teeth.

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=28281&z=3

[Nut44x4]

Fort Myers murder mystery: 8 skeletal remains, who killed them?
Story Created: Nov 17, 2010 at 3:17 PM America/New_York

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Fort Myers police call it their most challenging case; eight skeletal remains were found buried deep in the woods more than three years ago. Investigators say the men are murder victims. So far only three people have been identified. Now, a new detective is working hard to crack the case.

The largest excavation of human remains in Florida history happened in the brush off Arcadia Street in Fort Myers three years ago. A land surveyor stumbled across the first skull in March 2007. Days later, police unearthed eight remains of men they believe are all homicide victims. There were no I.D.'s or clothes. Police estimated they were killed between 1980 and 2000.

"The file on this case is extremely large," Detective Mali Langton told WINK News. "Right now I'm coming in on my days off to work on the case."

Detected Langton took over the investigation last year after the original detective retired. She says she's investigating as if it's a cold case.

"I'm looking into every single possible thing I can," she said.

That includes following up on hundreds of leads and going through sign-in sheets from area homeless shelters during that time period. Police believe the victims are transients.

"Most of these people were probably not even reported missing. Their families and friends think they may have just drifted. That's the hard part," Langton explained.

A forensic artist used the skulls to sketch what the men might look like and another artist reconstructed their heads out of clay. Police sent DNA from the bones to a national database. Those combined efforts helped identify three men: Jonathan Tihay, Eric Kohler and John Blevins.

Blevins' mother Hilinda Courter said John was visiting Fort Myers in the mid '90's when he vanished.

"He said I'm going our for a while. I'll be back... and never showed back," Courter recalled.

On a hunch she gave DNA to investigators and her worst nightmare came true.

"It said the DNA was that of my son. It just about tore my heart out," she said. "Had I not brought him here maybe things wouldn't have happened the way they did. Nobody knows but I sometimes feel it's my fault."

Blevins had no connections with the other two men identified. The lack of common threads makes the mystery harder to solve.

Theories have surfaced that this could be the work of serial killer Daniel Conahan, on death row for a murder he committed in Charlotte County in the '90's. While the Fort Myers Police tell us they have yet to talk to Conahan or his lawyers, they aren't ruling out doing so in the future.

We tried to speak with Conahan, but in a letter, he refused our request for an interview.

Now, Langton spends her time determined to unravel the secrets of this case.

"I pray one day I get that phone call that we at least identify the next one," she said.

There are still five skeletal remains that need to be identified. If you haven't heard from a loved one for more than ten years, the Fort Myers Police Department suggests that you contact them to submit DNA.
http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2010-11-17/Fort-Myers-murder-mystery-8-skeletal-remains-who-killed-them

Excellent Video at link

[Nut44x4]

Mystery remains 5 years after skeletal remains found in Fort Myers
 
Eight homicide victims, all men, were found in woods. Police remain frustrated, and families' pain lingers.


2:36 PM, Mar. 27, 2012 

~~~more of what we know
 ::snipping2::

http://www.news-press.com/article/20120327/CRIME/303270020/Mystery-remains-5-years-after-skeletal-remains-found-Fort-Myers?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7C%7Cp