Agricultural Research Center Body Still Unidentified
Police Seek Public Help Identifying Man Killed In 2000
POSTED: 5:52 pm EST March 22, 2006
UPDATED: 6:10 am EST March 23, 2006
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Park Police investigators want help identifying a man found killed six years ago, as well as finding his killer.
His body was discovered on the grounds of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, which is federal property and makes his death a federal case.
On April 13, 2000, workers from the Agricultural Research Center were doing studies on Beaver Dam Creek when they discovered the body.
"The worker observed something in the creek, thought it was a dead deer," said U.S. Park Police Detective Mike Horman. But it was a man who had been beaten and strangled and left in the water for as many as 30 days.
"Unfortunately, it was so far decomposed that facial features and things like that could not be discerned," Horman said.
Forensic experts used the skull to create a possible likeness.
"From the medical examiner's reports and from the anthropological studies, we believe it is a white male," Horman said. "There has been some indication in those reports that there is a possibility that there is a mixed racial background, possibly African American."
He was 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed more than 200 pounds. He was wearing a size 48, chestnut tweed L.L. Bean jacket, a green Hanes hooded sweatshirt, a Nike T-shirt, size 36/36 Wrangler blue jeans, and size 13 hiking shoes. He had a set of keys on a three-inch long safety pin, perhaps the kind used at Laurel racetrack.
"I actually brought the safety pin with me and showed it to many of the trainers," Horman said. "They indicated that the pin is actually too large for what they would use that type of safety pin for."
Investigators also have the victim's DNA and fingerprints. The DNA samples and fingerprints were sent to the FBI, and the fingerprints also were sent to state fingerprint databases, but no matches have come up.
"Once we learn who he really was, that's when we can start making contact with his inner circle, people that knew him," Horman said. "It's the starting point of the death investigation to this homicide."
Anyone with information about the man should call U.S. Park Police at (202) 610-8737.
Police Seek Public Help Identifying Man Killed In 2000
POSTED: 5:52 pm EST March 22, 2006
UPDATED: 6:10 am EST March 23, 2006
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Park Police investigators want help identifying a man found killed six years ago, as well as finding his killer.
His body was discovered on the grounds of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, which is federal property and makes his death a federal case.
On April 13, 2000, workers from the Agricultural Research Center were doing studies on Beaver Dam Creek when they discovered the body.
"The worker observed something in the creek, thought it was a dead deer," said U.S. Park Police Detective Mike Horman. But it was a man who had been beaten and strangled and left in the water for as many as 30 days.
"Unfortunately, it was so far decomposed that facial features and things like that could not be discerned," Horman said.
Forensic experts used the skull to create a possible likeness.
"From the medical examiner's reports and from the anthropological studies, we believe it is a white male," Horman said. "There has been some indication in those reports that there is a possibility that there is a mixed racial background, possibly African American."
He was 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed more than 200 pounds. He was wearing a size 48, chestnut tweed L.L. Bean jacket, a green Hanes hooded sweatshirt, a Nike T-shirt, size 36/36 Wrangler blue jeans, and size 13 hiking shoes. He had a set of keys on a three-inch long safety pin, perhaps the kind used at Laurel racetrack.
"I actually brought the safety pin with me and showed it to many of the trainers," Horman said. "They indicated that the pin is actually too large for what they would use that type of safety pin for."
Investigators also have the victim's DNA and fingerprints. The DNA samples and fingerprints were sent to the FBI, and the fingerprints also were sent to state fingerprint databases, but no matches have come up.
"Once we learn who he really was, that's when we can start making contact with his inner circle, people that knew him," Horman said. "It's the starting point of the death investigation to this homicide."
Anyone with information about the man should call U.S. Park Police at (202) 610-8737.
