Earlier this month, Clearwater Police were able to identify the body of a man who was found over thirty years ago in Clearwater Beach.
On November 29, 1993, a body was discovered near the Clearwater Pass bridge, near Sand Key.
Authorities suspected the man had gone for a swim, as clothes, presumed to be his, were found neatly folded in a pile by the lifeguard stand on the shore, but with no identification present.
At the time, the only information law enforcement had was that he was between sixty and eighty years old, weighed 118 pounds, was 5 feet 4 inches tall, had grey hair, and blue eyes.
For the past three decades, he was only known as “Pinellas County John Doe 1993.”
Enlisting some help
That is, until recent efforts by the Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office and a company called Moxxy Forensics Investigations, that studied the DNA samples that were taken from the body.
Kaycee Connelly, an Investigative Genetic Genealogist and co-founder of Moxxy Forensic Investigations, reached out to the Clearwater Police Department with interest in the case.
“When I read the case information that was available publicly online, given his age, I knew there had to be somebody out there that was wondering where he had been all of these years,” said Connelly.
Connections to the 1700s and England
Since the man’s DNA was collected at the time and stored properly for all these years, Connelly and her team were able to conduct a genealogical analysis to find out who this man was.
This process involves examining DNA samples, comparing them to DNA profiles in public and private databases, and utilizing the resulting matches to construct family trees and identify close relatives.
“Right out of the gate, I and my team, we noticed that most of our DNA matches were living in England or had recently immigrated from England, first generation born in the United States,” said Connelly. “So that was very confusing because, how was that relevant to somebody who was found in Clearwater, Florida?”
After several months, the genealogical team was able to uncover a number of connections dating all the way back to the mid-1700s.
Eventually, they were able to trace the unidentified man to his next of kin, his son, who was contacted for a DNA comparison, and a match was made.
“In this incident, I had the approval from the agency to reach out to closer relatives,” said Connelly.
“Once we were able to identify a candidate and I let the agency know, they felt that because I knew so much of the science of it, that it would be beneficial for me to reach out to close family and kind of just determine if our research was right.”
Edman Eric Gleed
That’s how, three decades later and with the help of investigative genetic genealogy, the body has been identified as Edman Eric Gleed, who was 84 at the time of his death.
In the 1990s, he was listed as missing by his son in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Clearwater Police spoke this month to Gleed’s son, who is now 94 and living in North Carolina.
Connelly says that while she couldn’t wait to share the news, it wasn’t easy.
“It was very difficult. Edman has a son that’s still alive and he’s 94 years old and he has spent the last 31 years wondering where his father was.”
In a press release, Michael Walek, deputy chief for Clearwater Police, said, “We are happy that we are able to provide the family some answers and some closure as to what happened with their loved one.”
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