It took more than 30 years and a thousand miles to learn what happened to a Fairfax County, Virginia, man who went for a walk the day after Thanksgiving 1993 and never returned.
In 1993, the body of a man thought to be between 60 and 80 years of age was discovered floating in the water along a bridge, near Clearwater, Florida. Police found the man’s clothing, near a lifeguard stand.
Clearwater police didn’t think the man was the victim of a crime.
“The clothes, as described, were neatly folded in the sand — that’s not usually consistent with a criminal act,” said Deputy Police Chief Michael Walek, in an interview this week with Fox 13 in Tampa Bay.
The autopsy was inconclusive in the manner and cause of death, but foul play was not suspected. For more than 30 years, the man was known as Pinellas County John Doe 1993.
Last year, the case caught the attention of Kayce Connelly, co-founder of Moxxy Forensic Investigations, a nonprofit group of volunteers who use genetic genealogy to help police solve cold cases. She reached out to the Clearwater Police Department, offering to help.
As her group conducted its research, police submitted some bone dust from the unidentified man’s remains for further testing.
Eventually, the forensic group identified a potential family member, who’s now 94 years old. A swab of his DNA was submitted, as comparison.
This week, the son, who now lives in North Carolina, was told the man found in Florida in 1993 was his father, Edman Eric Gleed, 84. It’s not clear how or why Edman traveled to Florida from Fairfax County.
“It was a really small vial of DNA that was able to produce the results,” Walek told Fox 13.
Connelly said even with the passage of time, the son’s emotion “is so raw still. Mr. Gleed was wondering for every single day for the last 30 years, ‘Is my dad hungry, is he cold?'”
The deputy police chief thanked the medical examiner and Moxxy Forensic Investigations for helping provide Gleed’s family with answers.
“You’re able to provide three decades of closure, based on a little vial of DNA,” Walek said.
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