On January 1, 1996, a dog named Hollywood brought a human skull home to his owner, who lived near Plamedon Road, in North Port. Wayne Brown ran into the house and got his wife, then called police.
"They had been bringing pieces home for months, Hollywood and her mom, Speedbump," Susie Brown told The Sun Herald. "We thought they were bringing pieces of deer, rabbits, or alligators."
North Port investigators were able to quickly determine that the skull was human. The Police Explorers, a Sarasota County sheriff's posse, were called in to search the area for any remaining bones.
"There were the long bones of arms and legs and fingers and stuff, too. But I didn't know that then," Susie Brown said. "They started raking leaves and looking around the yard. They found a bunch of bones and most of them were human."
As the search was expanded, the chest and hipbones were discovered in separate locations, within a half a mile from the skull. Rope marks on a tree near the discovery of the bones was noted in one officer's report. Other than the chest, hipbones, and remnants found in the Brown's yard, investigators were unable to find the remainder of the skeleton.
The medical examiner later determined the victim to be a white male, between 25 and 35 years old, approximately 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighing between 150 to 160 pounds. Apparently, decomposition, insects and animals had caused the head to detach from the skeleton. The examiner further stated that the actual cause of death was undetermined and surmised that the man's corpse had been mutilated and the genitals may have been cut out. Decomposition of the body was greater in the areas of the head, neck and lower pelvis, thus suggesting there had been severe injuries to those areas. As with the first John Doe, investigators were unable to identify the victim and had no leads to follow.
email
print
default
increase
decrease
