From: Pensacola News Journal
PUBLISHED SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2001
Death of Suzanne Martin: One year later
Local bartender`s slaying remains a mystery
By Monica Scandlen
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Suzanne Martin's violent death haunts people every day.
Her mother, Gail Martin, thinks about it as she recovers from brain surgery at her home in Talladega, Ala.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Cpl. Joe McCurdy can't let it go, even though he is not on the case full time anymore.
Childhood friend Jeff Faulkner is reminded every time he looks at a poster with Suzanne Martin's picture hanging in his St. Petersberg office.
And investigators believe Martin's death must also be weighing on whoever killed the popular bartender April 28, 2000, after a night of partying.
More than a year after her partially clothed body was found floating in Escambia Bay, no one has been charged.
"I've played the scenario over in my head," McCurdy said. "Why is this girl dead? There's no reason for it."
The answers come slowly, if they come at all.
McCurdy has eliminated at least one man he once suspected and ruled out a couple of theories. There are a few new details in Martin's autopsy report that were never made public. Faulkner has increased a reward for information leading to an arrest to $7,500...
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Suspected events
McCurdy can last place Martin, 38, a single mother raising a teen-age son, at Seville Quarter about 2:30 a.m. April 28, 200il then, McCurdy said, Martin's evening played out like this:
She left her job about 4 p.m. at Intermission, a downtown bar, where she was the day bar manager. She went to a male friend's house in the 1900 block of east Cervantes Street and left her car.
The man has been cleared as a suspect and has moved out of state.
They ran some errands, ate at Hooter's Restaurant on North Ninth Avenue, went to Martin's home in Gulf Breeze, then about 8 p.m. went to Capt'n Fun Beach Club, where they saw other friends.
About 1 a.m., she returned to Intermission, then walked to Seville Quarter with two other men and a woman. Investigators declined to release their names. Martin soon broke off from them.
The whole night Martin was drinking heavily. Witnesses told police she was known to use Ecstasy.
At Seville, most people saw her alone. One person saw her on the dance floor at Phineas Phogg's with a man. At some point, Martin likely met someone she knew and left. Nobody saw her leave.
A fisherman found her floating near Archie Glover Boat Ramp in Milton about 8:30 a.m. She was wearing a black shirt and purple bra. Her jeans were nearby.
There were signs of a possible struggle.
Martin's death
An autopsy report from the Medical Examiner's Office states Martin had five fractured ribs on the left and 10 fractured ribs on the right. There were scrapes, cuts and bruises on her head, face and back.
She was dead when her body was dumped in the water. The autopsy found no water in her lungs.
Martin also had injuries "as to indicate the possibility that the deceased was run over by an automobile," the report states.
Cause of death: blunt force injuries to her chest and abdomen.
Manner of death: homicide.
McCurdy has ruled out a drifter from Lillian, Ala., who was a possible suspect.
He has only theories about the last moments of Martin's life.
"She gets to the other location, something went wrong and the next thing they know, they have a body they want to get rid off," McCurdy said.
"They drug her out there. I don't know if they thought she would sink or float or what."...
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