by Yvonne Mason

Chapter 1

1975 was two short years after the trial and conviction of Gerard Schaefer who had brutally murdered Susan Place and Georgia Jessup on South Hutchinson Island in Fort Pierce, Florida. He was suspected of killing as few as nine and as many as thirty-four. He was Florida’s first known serial killer.

So, it was with trepidation and extreme concern by law enforcement when a body was found on May 27, 1975, on Ulrich Rd which runs east and west between US1 and Oleander in Fort Pierce, Florida.

The first story was run on May 28, 1975, in The News Tribune. It was squeezed between the headlines “Russian Has Surgery Here After Stricken At Sea” and “On The Inside” which was the contents location pages. It consisted of seven small paragraphs and was probably not read by most of the readers. The print type of the headline was not bold and not eye catching.

This writer almost missed it on microfiche while researching for the book.

The Headline said, “Lawmen Seek Identity of Woman’s Decomposed Body”

“Area lawmen were seeking the identity this morning of a woman whose badly decomposed body was found in a wooded area off Ulrich Rd. 25 yards west of U.S. 1 Tuesday Afternoon, according to St Lucie County Sheriff Lanie Norvell.

Norvell said the body, believed to have been in the area five days or more was so deteriorated that the cause of death could not be determined until an autopsy is completed.

The medical examiner’s report was due early  this afternoon.

Deputies were reportedly able to take fingerprints from the victim, described only as a female and believed to be older than a teenager. The prints were to be distributed statewide.

A Belle Glade man, Bennie McDonald, reportedly in the south county area with a brother-in-law to fish, found the body then flagged down Deputy Joe Messina near U.S. 1 and Midway Road.

Some of the woman’s clothing a pair of light blue stretch slacks and a multi-colored blouse was found beneath the body, some nearby.

Chief Deputy Fin Parrish said this morning the victim’s clothing description matched that of a St. Lucie County woman reported missing, but a check showed the woman had returned home.

Parrish did not speculate on the cause of death but did report no ropes or weapons were found in the area.” (Tribune T. N., 1975)

The Fort Pierce Tribune ran this story the next day on May 29, 1975. It was Situated between “Village May Lose Revenue Sharing $” and FP Air Patrol Unit Slate Senator.” Again, the headline was not in bold and the story only consisted of five small paragraphs.

The Headline read, “No ID: She Died of Bullet Wound”

“The unidentified woman whose badly decomposed body was found in South St. Lucie County Tuesday afternoon died as a result of a bullet wound in the head, according to a medical examiner’s report.

The autopsy, performed by Dr. Calixto Iniguez, revealed the woman had two bullet wounds, one in the head and a second in the neck. Meanwhile, St Lucie County sheriff’s investigators are still searching for the identity of the victim, described as about middle 30’s, about five feet tall and of Latin or Indian descent.

The woman’s nude body was discovered in a wooded area south of Midway Road about 25 yards off U.S.1 by two Belle Glade men in the area to fish.

Her clothes, a pair of stretch slacks and a multi- colored blouse, were found beneath and near her body.

The woman who had been dead approximately six to 10 days, also had an upper set of dentures, Dr. Iniquez said.

Wednesday deputies were able to take an identifiable set of fingerprints from the victim, distributing the prints statewide.

The caliber of the bullets was not known, deputies said.” (Tribune, 1975)

The body was discovered by Benny McDonald and his brother-in-law Richard Benton Oliver both of Belle Glade, Florida, in a wooded area twenty-five yards west of US1.

Ulrich Rd., a dirt road at the time was located in an undeveloped part of Fort Pierce. There was one house on the south side of the road with woods on the north side which made it an extremely remote location. It was just the place to commit a crime.

The body was lying in a slight depression of the ground with the feet slightly elevated. When the body was moved a pair of blue pants and a multi-colored blouse was found beneath the body’s buttocks. Apparently from the statement given by Detective David Bunney who was at the scene the day the body was found; the blouse was zipped up the back and buttoned in the front. It had not been cut or torn. Had the victim done this after she took off her clothes in order to be raped? Had she used this action as a delaying tactic to slow down what she knew was ahead? That question would roll around in the investigator’s head for the entire time the case was open. It just didn’t appear to fit the crime.

There was a tire located approximately ten to fifteen feet northwest of the body. In that tire was a bra, panty girdle and the victim’s shoes. While the outer clothing was not mutilated, the underclothes were shredded. Why was the outer clothing not hidden along with the underwear and shoes? How did the outer clothing get under the victim’s body? Who put them there?

The last article of clothing to be found at the crime scene on the hot day in May in 1975 was a cloth hat. The subject of the hat would be brought up again and again during the investigation.

During this time a representative of the State Attorney’s office in the form of one of the Attorney’s and an investigator were required to be at all major crime scenes in order to preserve the chain of command and make sure that the evidence was preserved properly.

Forensics as it is known today was almost non- existent during that part of police history. Evidence had a way of getting lost, misplaced, placed in some investigator’s desk drawer and forgotten, stolen or even destroyed before the case made it to trial. The appearance of someone from the State Attorney’s office reduced those incidents.

Assistant State Attorney James Midelis with the 19th Judicial Circuit had been assigned the crime scene. The horrific smell that assailed his nostrils as he walked upon the scene caused him to become violently ill and lose his stomach contents at the scene. The smell permeated the clothes of all who were at the scene. It gathered in their noses, their hair and down their throats. Once it became a part of those on the scene it stayed. It was a smell that anyone who has ever investigated a death never forgets; it stays with that person forever. It is not like any other smell on this earth. Even the smell of a dead animal does not compare to the smell of a dead human body that has been left to decompose in the elements.

The stages of decomposition follow a pattern depending on where the body is left. In the case of this body which was left outside in a sub-tropical environment, subjected to heat and humidity and the local insects the decomposition was at an accelerated rate. The first stage of the body decomposition consisted of algor mortis, which was the cooling of the body as the internal body temperature dropped. Since the body was in a tropical climate it cooled at a much slower rate and in all likely hood raised the postmortem temperatures due to rapid putrefaction through the bacterial activity inside the digestive tract. Three to four hours after the death rigor mortis occurred, which was the postmortem stiffening and contraction of all the muscles. The rigor only lasted between 9 to 12 hours as opposed to the 36-48 hours because the body was in a tropical climate.

There are several factors which interfered with the onset and duration of rigor that included temperature, existing antemortem pathologies, age, body muscular mass and the degree of muscular activity immediately before death. Higher temperatures shorted the time of the onset of rigor and the time of duration. A strong fight or physical effort before death caused an earlier onset and shorter duration of rigor.

The Livor Mortis also known as postmortem lividity was characterized by reddish/purplish discoloration of the skin, sometimes with a pink border. This was caused by the lack of arterial pressure that counteracted the gravitational force. When the blood ceased, the blood was gradually re-deposited in the lower internal vessels and in the lower parts of the body. Livor appeared between the first three hours of death and was fixed within 12 hours.

Postmortem decomposition or putrefaction consisted of destruction of the soft tissue, which started internally through the actions of microorganisms which were present in the stomach and bowel and the nasal pharyngeal pathways. The bacteria in the food in life also contributed heavily to the decomposition after death with the process of putrefaction. The smell as opposed to the sight was the most distinctive thing about the body which was putrefying.

The intestinal bacteria produced very large amounts of foul-smelling gas which flowed into the blood vessels and tissues, causing the body to bloat, turning the skin from green to purple then to black. It made the tongue and eyes protrude and pushed the intestines out through the vagina, rectum, mouth, nose, eyes, ears and urinary openings.

Open wounds provided access to bacteria from the environment to the body. Extensive external bleeding during death slowed the putrefaction onset. Temperatures during that time probably accelerated or delayed the process of putrefaction. Gases derived from putrefaction were used to estimate time of death.

This method is known as the Brouardel method. In the first postmortem 24 hours, abdominal gases are not flammable, between the second and fourth day they are flammable and from the fifth day on they return to the nonflammable state.

Putrefaction stains began to form on the abdominal skin between 24-36 hours after death in temperate climates however, since the victim was in tropical climates the time changed to between 12-18 hours. These stains appeared all over the body and were green in color. They began to appear between the third and fifth day after death. This coloration was accompanied by a putrid odor. Sulpher- containing intestinal gas and a breakdown product of red blood cells produced the color and the smell.

As the blood underwent the putrefaction process of its transformation crystal blades were formed in fragmented or clustered patterns and crisscrossed and colorless. They started forming after the third day and probably remained for up to 35 days.

On the seventh day of death large blood-tinged blisters appeared which caused the skin to loosen and any pressure caused the first layer of skin to fall off the body in large sheets.

To add to the indignity of death there were insects which made their home in the body. The first to appear were a species of the Blowfly known as Diptera:Calliphoridae or the flesh fly Sarcophagidae. They quickly made their home in the body by depositing their eggs on the exposed corpse and the maggots were found feeding on it. As the maggots matured to the pupal form they left their pupa around the body. These droppings could have possibly been mistaken for rodent droppings. The next insect to inhabit the body was the Carrion beetle also known as Coleptera. Beetle larve were identified by their fat, or slender, hairy and white to dark brown and black colors. These two angry insects were disturbed when the body was found on that day.

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