RI RI - Smithfield, Stump Pond, Wht/HispMale 25-35, 406UMRI, wrapped in chicken wire, Jun'87

hmg

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On June 18, 1987 police in Smithfield, Rhode Island pulled the body of an unidentified man from Stump Pond, on the property of the Smithfield Police Department. Someone had gone through incredible lengths to try to make sure the body would not float to the surface by wrapping the man in chicken wire and fastening 90 pounds of rocks and barbells to him through a coaxial cable but after a few weeks of decomposing the body had floated to the surface and was discovered by a boater. He was the victim of a homicide, stabbed 21 times with a small instrument such as an ice pick-- 7 stab wounds in the head, 14 on his chest. Police estimated that he had been left in the lake 1 to 3 weeks prior to June 18.

The man, possibly Hispanic, was 122 pounds and 5'5". His brown hair was slightly receding and he had brown eyes. One of his only distinguishing characteristics was a scruffy beard and mustache-- he has no tattoos, scars, or other markings. Police believe he is between 25-35 and may potentially be from the western part of the country or even Mexico. The clothes he was wearing at his time of death include a black muscle shirt with "San Juan" on the front and back, grey sweatpants, and size 7.5 McGreggor tristar sneakers with no socks.

Comparisons to the national DNA or fingerprint databases have proven fruitless indicating he probably was never arrested, in the military, or a legal immigrant. Flyers distributed around the New England area yielded no responses.

sketch.jpg
 
The reconstruction is wrong if the description is accurate.

I don't see a beard at all...
 
I think he is most likely a victim of Tommy Lynn Sells. He committed a murder in New York in May 1987 so he definitely could have been in the area. He admitted that an ice pick was one of his tools of choice. And in a 1999 murder he stabbed a girl 16 times after cutting her throat so this totally seems like his M.O. He claimed to have killed a dozen people in seven states between 1987 and 1989.


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Before police can catch killer, they need to ID 1987 murder victim

Who is he?

That question needs to be answered before Smithfield Police can even begin to answer the second question.

Who killed him?

On June 18, 1987, boaters saw something floating in Stump Pond. They got out of the pond and drove across the street.

Smithfield Police Detective Gregg Catlow's dad was the first investigator on scene before a body was pulled from the water.
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"This was a very brutal murder," Catlow added. "That's a tough way to die. They really wanted him dead and wanted to make sure he wasn't found."

"He was wrapped in chicken wire and tied with coax cable and tied down with barbell weights and rocks," Catlow recalled.

There was no way to identify the body. The man didn't match any missing persons reports and his DNA and fingerprints came back without a match.
---
Catlow has added the case to a deck of cold case playing cards. Each card details an unsolved homicide or missing persons case in Rhode Island. This victim is the jack of clubs.

Catlow hopes anyone with information will call 1-877-RI-SOLVE.

He believes before he can find a killer, he must find a name.

Before police can catch killer, they need to ID 1987 murder victim
 
I check on this one every so often because we moved to Smithfield in April ‘87, two months before, and frequently took our own small boat out on Stump Pond that year. Two friends of my husband, and their girlfriends, were boating that day, and thought they saw a large turtle, from the imprint of the chicken wire, and one started to reach for it before seeing sneakers and realizing it appeared to be a body. The pond is directly across the street from the police station, so they took the boat to the road, and one got out and went across the street to report it. I think initially they took an officer back to the location in their boat.

We still live here 33 yrs later and I still think about him every time I drive past the pond.
 
I wonder what makes LE think he could be "from the west of the country or Mexico". Just because someone doesn't have fingerprints in the system? Or did they do isotope testing?
 
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Unidentified Person
NamUs #UP12497

07AC12D5-A38D-4CEC-A5B7-9F919DF0B49B.jpeg
1988 FBI Sketch

Date Body Found: June 18, 1987
Location Found: Smithfield, Providence County, Rhode Island
GPS Coordinates: 41.908919, -71.542483
ME/C Case Number: 2111-87A
Sex: Male
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Group: Adult
Estimated Age Range (Years): 25-35
Estimated Year of Death: 1987
Estimated PMI: 2 Weeks
Measured Height: 5' 5" (65 inches)
Measured Weight: 122 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Facial Hair Description: Mustache
Eye Color: Brown

Clothing: Black sleeveless mid-riff muscle shirt with "San Juan" printed horizontally and vertically on the back in white. Grey XS sweatpants and blue undershorts. (on the body)
Footwear: Size 7.5 McGregor Tristar sneakers, no socks (on the body)

Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction

Circumstances of Recovery: Subject was found deceased in Stump Pond. Victim suffered multiple stab wounds, was found clothed, wrapped in chicken wire, and was weighed down.
 
My parents bought their house in 1988 just up the street from where the body was found. I grew up hearing about this case and it always amazed me. I often went there when I was little with my dad when he went to fish and I fished there as adult up until a few years ago when I moved out of state. Another name for stump pond is Woonasquatucket Reservoir. Stump pond has a maximum dept of 14 feet so it isn't super deep.

Its so crazy to me that the perps decided to dump a body in a body of water right in front of a police station. Did they not know the area or did they just not care? I hope they figure out who this man is. Stab wounds in general are VERY personal. 7 stab wounds to the HEAD even more so. What did this buy do to royally piss off their murderer? What was the motive? I personally don't think the perp was from the area seeing as a police station was SO close.

Did this person have a boat and was just driving around looking for a body of water? Again, who would dump a body in a pond located within jumping distance form a police station.

There are 4 locations that I think someone could use to dump a body. One is right on the road and over a guardrail and into the water RIGHT in front of the police station which would be very risky. The water is relatively deep there.

There is a boat ramp off of log road across the pond that's very rocky and shallow, so ide be surprised if it was there. There is also a streetlight right at this ramp I think.

Another boat ramp/dam is off of Route 104, Farnum Pike. Just north of the dam is a concrete ramp for launching powered boats as well as canoes and kayaks. This is where the body was found as it floated close to the dam next to this boat launch. It can a bit deep where the concrete wall is but that would be very hard to drag a body over to that area and over (or through) the concrete and steel pole fence. You could possibly push a body through the steel pipes but it would be hard to do that with 1 person in my opinion. There is a dam there that would have likely pulled the body closer in the direction of the water runoff. This is where the body was found after some time had passed and the body began to float from decomp. This area is very dark with no lights and far off set from the road BUUTTTT a heavily active area especially this time of year for fishing. I can think of a few times I saw people fishing for eels and catfish.

There is one more area that I could think of that they could have used to dump the body in the water. There is a bridge going over a portion of the pond further down log road that has a few houses but is pretty dark at night. There are 2 house I think VERY close to this bridge so I think it may be unlikely.

These are just my thoughts and some description of the pond if it helps any. The first 28 years of my life were over by that pond. Smithfield as a town doesn't have any heavy crime that I can think of. At least when I lived there. This was definitely not something we are use to even today.
 

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