Identified! FL - Lakewood Park, WhtMale UP14432, <50, in homeless camp, Sep'15 - n/a

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/st-lucie-county/detectives-search-for-clues-to-id-body-found-in-lakewood-park-ep-1263624755-335402091.html

I assume this is the Namus- https://identifyus.org/en/cases/14432

Hi, everyone. I am a bit lost for words...and am not even sure where to begin...
It's a long story, but I will make it as simple as possible.

My father and I are not very close, but I do love and care for him. He has spent most of his life in prison, but had been out for about 6 years now. He has drug issues, and mental issues. He was awarded SSI disability in early 2015, and was getting $733 a month, so he did have some income.

The last time I spoke to my dad, was via FB, in either June or July. Unfortunately I deleted our messages, not thinking they may be important. He never said where he was living or who the current people were in his life. He seemed about as "okay" as he ever is, nothing gave me any alarm. I was not living in the same town as him (my hometown}.

I recently moved in with my mom a month ago, and decided I wanted to see me dad. I tried to message some of his longtime friends on FB who he always kept in some contact with...was finding out they hadn't seen or heard from him in a while. I guess I didn't think too much of it, it's not real unusual for my dad to be out of touch at times.

Then on New Years Eve at 15 mins til Midnight...His ex-girlfriend (who i vaguely know and have met before, but I knew her before she was dating my dad, I guess they had dated for like 2 or 3 months} messaged me on FB to ask me if i've seen or heard from my dad. I said "No actually, I have been kind of looking for him." she proceeds to say "No one has seen him in several months and his cousin & his cousin's mom found out from the bank he hasn't touched his bank account in months." I then said "What?? Thats NOT good, I know me and my dad aren't close but I do love him and am worried!" she then says "I know and he loved you too that's a fact! I'm not trying to scare you but you do know they found a body back in September in Lakewood Park and we all thought it might be him." and I told her I had no idea.... she then proceeds to tell me that she "Loves me"....which is odd. It all gave me a weird, she knows more than she's acting, feeling.

I am going to the police station tomorrow with 2 of my dad's lifelong friends (they are husband and wife}, they are good people and always tried to help my dad despite them being disabled. I can't go alone. I am thankful they are coming with me. I suffer from a severe anxiety and agoraphobia disorder so this is especially difficult for me.

I hope it's not my dad, but I have this sinking feeling it is.

I never thought I would be in this situation, it is earth shattering and numbing all at once.
Prayers needed, thank you. I will keep everyone updated with everything I know/find out.

ETA- In the namus report it says the unidentified person "may" be someone named Byron Thomas Rains...That is not my father's name, and I don't know who that person is and can't find any info on them. I don't know yet if I should put my dad's name here until I go to the police tomorrow.

Whatever the outcome, you and your father are in my thoughts! Sending good thoughts your way!

Thank you.

Is it possible for you to answer these:

Do you know what type of residence he was living in the last time you conserved with him? How would he spend his days?

I'll be thinking of you tomorrow. I'm glad you have family friends to be with you. Keep us updated.

Praying for you &#55357;&#56911;

I pray you find your father and can give him a big hug.

Awh I am sorry.. Outcome? I hope it's not him.

Hugs, I'll be thinking of you.

Sending prayers.

Nikon said:

Is it possible for you to answer these:

Do you know what type of residence he was living in the last time you conserved with him? How would he spend his days?

Click to expand...

Unfortunately no, he did not mention anything about where he was living or whom he was living with or who he was associating with. A lot of people were in and out of his life due to his drug use.

Thank you so very much everyone. I am supposed to be heading to the police station at around 1Oam.

I promise I will keep everyone up dated as soon as I find out anything.

I knew a Byron Raines when I worked as a sales rep for Thomas and Betts, but he was in Memphis. I wonder why they think it's him.

So.. I kinda do not know much more than I already did. The detective over the case won't be in until tomorrow, so I have to go back and see him at 1Oam tomorrow.

The detectives I did speak to "have very little information" about the body that was found and can't really answer my questions and "don't want to give me wrong information"

They said they "think" they have an idea of who the person might be, and the sister of this person submitted a DNA sample.
However, they absolutely do want me to come in tomorrow and submit a DNA sample which I am more than happy and willing to do.

So, I am still very much in the dark about all of this. The worst part is they said it could take up to a year for a DNA sample to come back, sigh.

I am hoping when I talk to the detective on this case tomorrow that when I inform him that his bank account has supposedly "not been touched in months" that they can verify this as true or false. If it is true, then there is great reason to suspect something has happened to my dad because he certainly would be using his bank account since his SSI checks are his only source of income.

Thank you everyone. I will let you know what, if anything, I am able to find out tomorrow.

Thanks for updating us. It must be very stressful to have to wait longer for an answer. Hang in there!

Thank you very much.

Equestrianista, I am so sorry to hear about your father. I can totally relate, my father is very similar to what you have shared about yours...

Have you filed a missing persons report on your father?

Prayers to you...hoping for a good outcome.

Here is what I found out, and I am quite angry to be honest.

The detective said he is "99%" sure it is not my father, but the have to wait on a DNA result to be sure. They ended up not needing a DNA sample from me because he says my dad's DNA should already be in the system since he has been to prison numerous times.

What upsets me is he REFUSED to make a missing person report for my father. He said "Well, he is an adult and it's not illegal for an adult to just up and leave. If someone don't want to be found, we can't make them be found." I explained to him my father is suicidal, has attempted suicide, and has NEVER completely "disappeared" without keeping in SOME contact with someone or letting someone know where he was heading. His cousins say the last time they seen him was right before his birthday in May of 2O15 and they said he told them "He just wanted to stop living". He was supposedly living homeless in some woods that are on about 5-7 miles, if that, from where the UID body was found.

Further more, the detective says he would "try" and "ask" the bank if they will tell them if he has used his bank account but "I can't promise the bank will honor our request."

Smh. WHAT can be done?? I am going to print out flyers and post them around myself at all areas he has been known to hang out at. Also, tomorrow, me and my husband are going to go check out some of the woods where he has been known to live sometimes. Also, the last time he was seen he had a Red 1O-speed bike he was riding, it's not much but it's something to watch out for.

Not much. Waiting is the game.

I always see that mentality "They're an adult, they can disappear if they want, it's not against the law." on old missing cases. I didn't know it still exists in some places today. On one hand, it can be frustrating for obvious reasons. On the other hand, I'm relived because if a well-being adult just want to up and start a new life, a clean slate - he could, hopefully, without repercussions.

But I think in your case (SSI is very much the lifeline to most people who are on it), something has gone foul.

I was finally allowed to file a missing person report on him, I had to have another witness with me letting them know my dad IS suicidal and has made past suicide attempts, thankfully they finally listened to me. They gave me a case number and told me it has been issued nationwide, and if any police in the nation come in contact with him, they will see he is missing and endangered.

Me and my hubby went and asked a lot of homeless people, and most of them knew my dad well and they had not seen him since around May of 2O15 [and even they were worried about him], which is also the same time his cousin who he has always been close to saw him as well. One homeless man said he was hanging out with a homeless woman named "April" and they had said something about going to North Carolina. I don't know how accurate that is, but I will take any tips I can get. My dad has no ties to North Carolina that I've ever heard, and again, he has never left the area without someone, especially his cousin knowing.

I stressed as much as I could to the cop who took my report that my dad is on SSI and he ALWAYS uses his account to the point he regularly overdraws it and if they check into that and see his account hasn't been touched then I absolutely KNOW something is wrong....but the cop basically just said "Oh, alright." and nothing else really, so who knows. :/

I have tried adding his case to Namus for missing persons, that was 4 days ago when I submitted it...I've never submitted a missing person to them before, and they said it would be read-over by someone before being approved to post publicly on the site, but how much longer will this take??