There was no doubt the man whose remains were discovered 40 years ago in Palm Beach County was murdered. Until recently, there had been nothing but doubt about who he was.
The man whose remains were found in a remote wooded area about 18 miles south of South Bay on Feb. 3, 1984, was recently identified as Joseph W. Newman, originally from Toms River, New Jersey, who was last seen alive in the spring of 1983, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.
A man searching for aluminum cans on the roadway of U.S. Highway 27 near the New River Canal found Newman’s skeleton about 20 feet off the road, between the canal and a guardrail, the Palm Beach Post reported in February 1984. The newspaper reported that the body had been bound when it was left in the woods.
“We’re definitely looking at a homicide,” a Sheriff’s Office detective told the newspaper at the time.
Investigators at the time said the man was likely was between 17 and 28 years old, about 5-feet-11-inches tall and was wearing a pair of long white socks with blue stripes, Othram’s website said. White boxers and blue jogging shorts inscribed with “82502” on the band inside them were found near the bones. Little else was known about him after the discovery.
Like in many other cold cases, information about the case was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, created in the late 2000s and known as NamUS, but the man remained unidentified.
In January 2024, the Sheriff’s Office sent forensic evidence to Othram, a lab based in Texas that uses a more advanced method of DNA testing, leading to Newman’s name finally being revealed, according to the company’s page on the case.
South Florida law enforcement agencies have seen recent breakthroughs in numerous cold cases after sending evidence to Othram. Their advanced testing, called Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing, develops a complete genetic profile from the evidence, giving detectives matches of possible relatives of unnamed victims or suspects who have gone free.
In 2022, the lab’s work led to identifying a victim whose remains were found in the woods in Palm Beach County in 1985 as Terry Ketron , originally from Kentucky. The Sheriff’s Office is still investigating that case. Othram also helped the Sheriff’s Office recently identify a suspect in the 1983 murder of Gayla Ann McNeil, whose body was found near the area of U.S. 441 and Acme Dairy Road in western Palm Beach County.
Remains of murder victim found in Palm Beach County in 1985 identified as Kentucky man
In Newman’s case, scientists with the lab extracted DNA from the evidence they received and built a complete genetic profile, the company’s website said, and their forensic genetic genealogists were able to give investigators new leads, leading law enforcement to track down possible relatives. Investigators collected DNA samples from one relative, confirming Newman’s name.
Newman was known to live several places in Miami-Dade County, including Kendall and Bal Harbour, the Sheriff’s Office said. A man named Jamie, whose last name detectives do not know, was one of Newman’s friends and was likely one of the last people who saw him before he disappeared.
“Jamie was described as a black male in his mid-30s of American descent, muscular, average height, who often bragged about being a football player,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Detectives want to identify any of Newman’s friends or acquaintances in Florida from the early ’80s. There is up to a $3,000 reward available in Newman’s case.
Authorities ask anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 800-458-8477 or Cold Case Unit Det. John Cogburn at 561-688-4063 or by email at cogburnj@pbso.org .
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