FL FL - Earl Blankenship, 25, Fort Lauderdale, March 1984

Here is the original composite made for 1175UMFL.




The victim was located in a wooded area, between the 20400 block of State Road 84, and the New River Canal, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on March 17, 1984. Found in the pocket of the jeans were a pack of Kool cigarettes, a white Bic lighter and some change. No underclothing, wallet, identification or jewelry were found.

Now 31 years later, he has been identified as Earl Blankenship.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-murder-victim-remains-id-20150309-story.html

On Monday the Broward Medical Examiner's office identified Blankenship as the murder victim whose body was discovered in March 1984 by two fishermen in the area of State Road 84 and Northwest 204th Avenue, near the Everglades.

The cause of death was "multiple stab wounds,"

Click to expand...

The murder itself is still unsolved.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-murder-victim-remains-id-20150309-story.html

Before learning several weeks ago that her son's remains had been identified, the family also learned that Earl had a child, whom Earl had never met. Now 32, Jessica Casner and her 10-year-old daughter attended a recent memorial service at the Blankenship home, where Casner met her grandmother, aunts and uncle for the first time.

Casner was a newborn when Blankenship separated from her mother. "I picture him as a kid who got in some trouble, tried to straighten himself out, but it was too late," said Casner, who lives in Danville, Ill. "It's nice to know what happened. It wasn't that he didn't want to be a father. He was murdered, plain and simple."

Click to expand...

It's been a year since Earl was identified. Hoping the investigation is still active.

Sounds like he picked the wrong roommate combined with his lifestyle.

http://www.doenetwork.org/closed/articles/1175umfl_article.pdf

Donna Blankenship described her brother, the oldest of four siblings, as "a wild child" as a teen who got involved with drugs in Defiance. She said he left for Florida with the intention "to make some fast money and probably got involved with the wrong people."

Another sister, Shelia Shoemaker, said she heard from her brother twice soon after he lefthome. One call came from the road in Georgia, where he said the used van he was driving broke down.

A month later he called from South Florida. "He said he was staying with some guy who was dealing drugs," Shoemaker said. "He said, 'I gotta get out of here.' That's the last I heard."