FL FL - Miami, 'Tommy Torso' Wht/Hisp Male UP8293, 20-40, in Biscayne Bay, Apr'85

This man was dismembered and thrown in Biscayne Bay along with a similarly dismembered female who has since been identified as Nilsa Padilla (http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210064&highlight=Namus+8293). He remains unidentified.

http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase2349.html
The victim was discovered on April 2, 1985 in Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Estimated Date of Death: 1985.
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction.
Cause and Manner of Death: Gunshot/Homicide.
Vital Statistics

Estimated Age: 20-40 years old (most likely 30-35).
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'5" to 5'9" and 135-180 lbs.
Described as being of short or average height.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Black hair and unknown eye color.
Described as having a hairy body and dark complected.
Marks, scars: Large 11" diagonal scar (non-surgical, old healed wound)
running from the waistline in the small of his back to the right shoulder blade
near the armpit. Small, crude tattoo of "L.R." on upper right arm near the shoulder.
Clothing: None recovered.
Dentals: Available. Large gap between front teeth.
DNA: Sample available - Not yet submitted.
Fingerprints: Not available.
Other: One or more limbs and one or both hands were not recovered.

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/8293

The following people have been ruled out as being this decedent:

Thomas Scott 1956 Texas
Ramon Vasquez 1954 Texas

Doenet says "Investigators have invested a lot of time and money into the case they've dubbed "Tommy Torso." A drawing and reconstruction of the victim was completed but neither is unavailable at this time." I have no idea why they would have done a reconstruction and drawing if they weren't going to make it public

i bump this one year later.

i read the story of "theresa torso". the female victim and her family (disgusting pervert partner and children) lived in a makeshift camper on a closed island in FL that was inhabited by vagrants. since the partner was very abusive, i am thinking this man is someone who also lived on the island or else how would she have had access. so possibly a vagrant or immigrant. probably not reported missing.

No new ruleouts.

His Namus (https://identifyus.org/en/cases/8293) says he has dentals, DNA, and fingerprints now.

There's also a good recon.

Still just Ramon Vasquez and Thomas Scott on the exclusions. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Maybe Louis Holloway? I can't find anyone on NamUs with the initials "LR" that also fits the statistics and time-frame well enough, but "LH" is fairly close. However, there's no connection that I know of between Holloway and Nilsa Padilla. The picture available of Holloway on NamUs isn't the best quality -- and just how broad "broad" is is uncertain -- but it seems like his nasal aperture could be considered broad.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Howard Burns, "Mutilated body still unidentified," Miami News, 3 April 1985, 5A.

The torso was found about 10:30 a.m. by an instructor at the Dade Marine Institute and his seven students. For several hours after the discovery, police from several agencies searched the waters of Biscayne Bay just north of the Seaquarium for the remaining body parts, but found nothing, police said. The torso appears to be that of a Latin male, Chilson said. The man had probably been killed within the past 24 hours, Chilson said.

Pedro Fonteboa and Howard Burns, "2 more body parts found in Bay waters," Miami News, 9 April 1985, 5A.

The discoveries of body parts began a week ago today, when the torso of a man was found on the water's edge behind the Miami Seaquarium on Virginia Key. Detectives believe the mutilations of the man and woman are related.

[...]

One police spokesman has termed the mutilations "two of Dade's most gruesome murders." The body parts found yesterday were taken to the Dade Medical Examiner's Office for comparison and analysis, police said.

"More Body Parts Found," Naples Daily News, 11 April 1985, 2B.


Edna Buchanan, "Find of head, leg adds new pieces to murder puzzle," Miami Herald, 11 April 1985, 1D, 2D.
[part 1] [part 2]

The body parts belong to an unidentified man and woman who were murdered, dismembered and their remains scattered at sea, police believe. Their deaths were a secret the sea did not keep.

[...]

The head found by port security, at 8:45 a.m., was that of the man with a hairy chest and the 11-inch scar on his back. "It positively matches the torso," said Associate Medical Examiner Dr. Stephan Blair, charged with reassembling the unidentified man's body.

Joan Fleischman, "Victim was shot, detectives say in body parts case," Miami Herald, 16 April 1985, 2D.

An unidentified man whose body was found in pieces floating in Biscayne Bay and other Dade waterways was shot to death, Metro-Dade police said Monday.

[...]

The first piece in the grisly murder puzzle turned up April 2 near the Seaquarium. Two men fishing off a pier saw a floating object they thought was an injured manatee. They borrowed a boat and hauled it in, only to discover it was the headless, naked torso of a man.

[...]

The man, who had multiple gunshot wounds in the chest and abdomen, was believed to be from 30 to 35, of short to average height, and between 165 and 180 pounds. Police are uncertain of his race, but said he was hairy and dark skinned.

He bore a homemade tattoo on his upper right arm with the letters "L.R.," and also had an 11-inch diagonal scar running from the waistline in the small of his back to the right shoulder blade near the armpit.

The scar was not from surgery, Dr. Blair said.

"It's a healed old wound," he said.

Joan Fleischman, "Torso murders unsolved despite year-long probe," Miami Herald, 9 April 1986, 3B.

Both were dead before they were dismembered, according to the medical examiner who said their killer probably used a saw.

Two exclusions.