MIAMI – Almost 40 years in the past, human stays had been discovered on a seashore in St. Johns County, Florida. This week, authorities recognized these stays as a lady who was final seen by her household in 1968.
Mary Alice Pultz was 25 on the time. She had been raised in Rockville, Maryland, and had two kids. She grew to become estranged from her household then and left with the person who was her boyfriend, John Thomas Fugitt, in line with a information launch from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Quick-forward to 1985 when human stays had been discovered by development employees who had been digging for a walkover on Crescent Seaside. The style of loss of life was decided to be a murder, the sheriff’s workplace stated.
An preliminary investigation decided the stays belonged to a white feminine between the ages of 30 and 50.
The case went chilly through the years and the stays had been left unidentified.
A facial reconstruction created in 2011 gave officers just a few leads, however in the end left the case unresolved.
That was till 2023 when a giant break was found after the stays had been despatched to Othram, a lab in Texas specializing in forensic genetic family tree.
With the assistance of superior expertise on the lab, potential kin of the sufferer had been recognized, the sheriff’s workplace stated. Sgt. Gene Tolbert traveled to satisfy with these kin and after extra DNA samples and testing, authorities had been capable of positively determine the stays.
Officers recognized Pultz because the sufferer in January 2024, however her murder stays unsolved.
Fugitt, who glided by Tommy, additionally had an alias: Billy Joe Wallace.
“We do not know if Tommy had something to do with Mary Alice’s look however he’s definitely on the prime of our checklist by way of individuals of curiosity,” Tolbert stated in a video posted to Fb that the sheriff’s workplace made concerning the case.
In the midst of the investigation, officers realized Fugitt died whereas on loss of life row after he had been convicted and sentenced to loss of life for the homicide of his roommate in 1981.
“Though a big period of time has handed, detectives are hopeful that the data developed to this point will lead to a lead(s) that brings last closure to the household,” the sheriff’s workplace stated.
St. Johns County is positioned on the northeast coast of Florida. Police say they do not know if Pultz moved to Florida along with her boyfriend. They haven’t any addresses or information of jobs she might need held between 1968 when she left Maryland and 1985 when her stays had been discovered.
Her son, Norman Jenkins, was younger when she left.
“I might similar to to know if anybody ever noticed her or knew her,” Jenkins informed police.
