1977 Murder Victim Still Unidentified

The death certificate in the Granby Town Clerk's office lists his name as Unidentified White Male. That's what he has been known as since a passing motorist found his body on the side of route 219 in Enders State Park in Granby, Connecticut on September 5, 1977. According to the death certificate, his skull, larynx and facial bones all had fractures. He also had contusions of the brain. The cause of death was listed as a homicide. The Hayes-Huling & Caromon Funeral Home handled his burial and he was laid to rest in March of 1978 in an unmarked grave in Granby Cemetery across the street from the Town Library.

Homicides are rare in Granby and it's neighboring towns. The fact that the victim remains without a name makes this crime harder to solve. It is believed that he was deceased for 24 hours before he was found. A composite sketch was drawn of what he may have looked like and was distributed to various Law Enforcement Agencies and newspapers across the country.

He was 5 foot 7 inches, weighed 140 pounds and his age was estimated to be around 25 years of age. He wore his hair in a pony tale, had a four inch braided goatee and a mole on his right ear. The victim also had brown hair, brown eyes and a mustache. Another unique identifying factor about the mystery victim is that he had several unusual scars. There were two circular scars on his right knee and a comma shaped scar on his upper left chest. He also had several chipped and missing teeth.

According to a 1982 Hartford Courant article, the deceased wore a white shirt that had a print of storefront scenes. One of the stores was of a barbershop that had the name "Lewis" on it. Underneath his shirt, was a T-Shirt that was stamped with the name "Ferguson."

In January of 1980, the State of Connecticut offered a twenty thousand dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for the homicide. It is not known if the reward is still available. Because he was found in a State Park, the Connecticut State Police are in charge of investigating his case. The Connecticut State Police did not return phone calls regarding this case.

His case is featured as 214UMCT on the Doe Network Web site. The Doe Network is an online database that profiles missing and unidentified persons. According to Todd Matthews, the media director of the Doe Network, they have 3,043 unidentified persons cases and 6,526 missing persons on their website. 214UMCT is one of seven unidentified persons from Connecticut on the Doe Network. There is no official number of unidentified human remains because no state agency keeps track of them. The city of New Britain alone has six sets of unidentified remains of which four of them were found behind a strip mall on Hartford Road. Only one of the six New Britain unidentified persons is listed on the Doe Network. Other remains in Connecticut not listed on the Doe Network include a human skull found near the Salmon Brook River in Haddam in 2006 and an unidentified white male infant found deceased in a parking lot in Meriden on January 2,1988.

The problem of unidentified persons is a troubling one for State Victim's Crime Advocate, Michelle Cruz. Her office is in charge of helping victims of crimes and their loved ones seek justice. One of their responsibilities is to work with various police departments and agencies to solve cold cases involving unidentified persons.

"Just because they [deceased unidentified persons] don't have family to press for justice does not mean that their cases should not be pursued and solved." Cruz stated. "These unidentified persons are someone's son or daughter; they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and have the person(s) responsible brought to justice."

Thirty one years later Law Enforcement is no closer to finding his name or his killer(s). If you have any information about the identity of this victim or his killer(s) you are urged to contact Connecticut State Police at 1-800-842-0200. All calls can remain confidential.