Remains found in a Box,(Francisco Cuevas) Palm Beach Gdns., FL 4/9/08

[packy]

http://www.wptv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=aa25a988-b7fe-4fe7-8580-6c3378b451d5

Crime scene tape is still left up at the site where a box of body parts was found. A human head and other body parts found welded into a metal box discarded off the Beeline highway may have enough tissue for a thorough forensic examination.

And whomever meticulously sealed the airtight container, may have sealed evidence inside, evidence that could come back to haunt them.

"It was someone getting rid of human remains they hoped never would be found”, says Tony Mead a 30 year veteran of work in the forensics field.

"They took steps by welding the box shut meant to hide everything; they may have preserved evidence to a certain extent."

Workers cutting down brush along the rural stretch of road pierced the container Wednesday morning and were overwhelmed by the smell.

Though it will be impossible to determine how long the body parts have been there, it is considered the result of a recent crime.

"We have tissue to work with and we will do dental tests" says Mead.

"We want to know who this is, who did it, and somehow bring closure to the victim's family"

If you have any information, you are urged to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 458-TIPS, and remain anonymous.

[Nut44x4]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/04/10/0410remains.html

Thursday, April 10, 2008

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Authorities say they won't release any new information on the case of human remains discovered in a box yesterday until the victim has been identified.

Palm Beach Gardens police officer Ellen Lovejoy said investigators worry that any information — including a description of the remains or the box — could jeopardize the investigation.

Contractors removing non-native plants along Beeline Highway near Jog Road shortly before 11 a.m. yesterday discovered the suspicious box.

[5boxersmom]

Wish I knew how long it had been there.

[packy]

They are saying it appears to be from a recent crime. But I wish they would give us more information.

[Breezy]

Still no updates...

[Nut44x4]

It's Florida.....they will take their sweet time making an ID or even giving out any info at all.

[KittyMom]

A human head and other body parts found welded into a metal box
This is confusing. Was the box welded shut or were the remains literally welded into metal? I would think that the body parts would burn up in heat hot enough to weld the metal.

[packy]

It is confusing.

The article says to the effect that the person who did this wanted to make sure the remains would not be found, then dropping the box where it was found does not fit with that idea. Did someone else find this and dump the box because they did not want to be involved I wonder.

[awakening2lite]

Something else is odd about this story. The location bothers me. I lived in Palm Beach country area for a number of years and Jog does not connect to the Bee Line. Then it struck me, maybe they extended it, but google map does not show it. I suppose it is still possible the extension is in place, but what makes that seem odd is the fact it would run thru the wet lands. Wet land roads and development requires years of paper work and approval may still not be given.

Anyway, I would like to see an article published with a map.

A welded box has to have a welder. There are many welders employed at the port, not too far from this location in Riviera Beach, maybe 4 miles between them. Just a thought.

[awakening2lite]

It is confusing.

The article says to the effect that the person who did this wanted to make sure the remains would not be found, then dropping the box where it was found does not fit with that idea. Did someone else find this and dump the box because they did not want to be involved I wonder.

Parts of the Bee Line go through the wet lands aka everglades. There's nothing for miles. Driving it you could easily have the impression you were in "no man's land". Who ever did it may have thought no one would ever be getting out of their vehicle to walk in that area. My feeling is that if not for the workers cleaning out invading plants, no one would have found it.

[packy]

Parts of the Bee Line go through the wet lands aka everglades. There's nothing for miles. Driving it you could easily have the impression you were in "no man's land". Who ever did it may have thought no one would ever be getting out of their vehicle to walk in that area. My feeling is that if not for the workers cleaning out invading plants, no one would have found it.

Thanks, Awakening. That does explain the remark.

[Nut44x4]

Taking long enough to release more info on this one, eh?

[5boxersmom]

I was wondering about this one the other day. Nothing huh?

[dega101653]

I was wondering about this one the other day. Nothing huh?



Hey 5boxersmom I think you may be on my Yorkie, Hannibal's myspace friends list :67302::67302:

[5boxersmom]

Hey 5boxersmom I think you may be on my Yorkie, Hannibal's myspace friends list :67302::67302:

I don't have a myspace account. :shrug1:

[packy]

Taking long enough to release more info on this one, eh?

I found nothing and you would think it would have some update by now.

[Nut44x4]

9 months later........ :rolleye0001: still no updates, still waiting for more information :45024:

[Nut44x4]

Case Information
Status: Unidentified
UDRS Number: 2244
Case Number: 08-0432
NCIC Number: N/A
Date Found: 2008-04-08 09:29:00
Date Entered: 2008-07-23 08:55:00
Date Modified: 2008-07-24 04:38:00

Address Found: 8299 N Jog Rd/B-Line Hwy
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Palm Beach County

Demographics and Circumstances
Estimated Age: Adult - Pre 60
Minimum Age: 45 years
Maximum Age: 65 years
Race: White
Ethnicity: N/A
Sex: Male
Weight (lbs.): 0, N/A
Height (inch): 0, N/A
Condition: Partial Remains
Probable Year of Death: 0
Est. Postmortem Interval: N/A N/A
DNA Profile Status: N/A
Circumstances of Death: Head, torso, foot found in metal rectangular box welded shut.
Body Details
Skeletal Findings: Healed Fractures present on both nasal bones and the nasal septum is deviated toward the left. Several skeletal elements exhibit sharp force trama consistent with postmortem dismemberment.
Body Parts Inventory: Limbs Not Recovered, Hands Not Recovered

Fingerprint Classification
RT N/A

Clothing, Hair, Eyes
Clothing On Body: white sock Jewelry: earing- white metal
Head Hair: black Eye Color: brown

Dental Summary: One or More Teeth Present, Filling or Crown Present, Upper Jaw Present, Lower Jaw Present
https://identifyus.org/report.php?p=individual&i=2244

[Nut44x4]

WOW........ UPDATE, finally......
Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
July 3, 2009 Friday
ARTFULLY SOLVING MYSTERY;
A FORENSIC ARTIST IS TRYING TO HELP ID A SKULL THAT WAS FOUND MORE THAN A YEAR AGO

Forest workers were clearing brush in a remote Palm Beach Gardens area last year when they unearthed a rusty steel box among the broken trees. It held parts of a man: a skull, pieces of the torso and shoulder and a left foot.

Police and city officials had to use a saw and pry bar to open the tightly welded box. From there, it was taken for examination: The rotted flesh that remained was stripped, the skull and bones analyzed by the county Medical Examiner's Office and the University of Florida's Human Identification Laboratory in Gainesville.

Since April 9, 2008, when the remains were found at Jog Road and Beeline Highway, the question has puzzled investigators: Whose skull is it?

DNA results are pending, and no missing persons reports have been linked to the skull, Palm Beach Gardens Police Sgt. Richard Geist said.

"Where do you turn? Who do you talk to? 'Hey, I got this head in this box. Did you kill this guy? If so, why?' " Geist said. "There's not much you can do until you get the person identified."

That's where Paul Moody comes in. Moody, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office forensic artist, is combining art and science to bring a face to the skull.

"The skull is the road map," Moody said. "Once you apply the muscles and the tendons and skin over the top of that, as you would with any anatomy, you'll come pretty close."

He uses tissue depth markers to find out the thickness of the brows and lips, or how sunken the eyes were. What's been determined so far: The skull belongs to a Latino male 45 to 65 years old. He kept his hair short and wore a hoop earring. The saw used to dismember the body had blades up to 14-teeth per inch and may have had a wavy edge. The victim was sawed from the back first, then flipped over to complete the job. He was in the box about a year.

To most people, a skull looks like a skull. To Moody, tiny details emerge: the deviated septum points to someone who had his nose broken years ago. The brows were dominant and one of the front teeth overlapped the other. Connect the dots, and fill in the blanks and a sketch comes to life. Coming within the familiarity range, Moody said, is sometimes all you can hope for.

Heather Walsh-Haney, a forensic anthropology professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, said bringing the case back into the spotlight is also what helps.

"The big part of these reconstructions is it gets the community talking," she said. "It's amazing what they can do mixing science and art."

The mystery at hand begs the question from investigators: Where are the other body parts?

"There are probably more boxes out there somewhere," Geist said. "Who knows where the rest of them are."

Palm Beach County Medical Examiner Michael Bell could not recall a case like this before in the county. He did not determine the exact cause of death.

"I have a feeling that this will remain unsolved," Bell said. "Whoever put it there put it there did so with the intent of nobody ever finding it again...It would have still been hidden if they didn't crack open the container. Out came the malodor and that's all it took."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-gardens-head-forensic-p060309,0,423229.story

ummmmmmmmm.....I do not see a photo/recreation/or anything. ??

[Claycat]

Another victim whose killer will probably go unpunished. No justice...

[Nut44x4]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-gardens-head-forensic-p060309,0,423229.story

Could someone who can see ythe recreations go to the link and bring it over here?? Thanks a million. I click on the skull w/ pins in it and I see a black screen...no pictures.

[annalyzer]

photos

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-gardens-head-forensic-pg,0,7387681.photogallery

video

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-gardens-head-forensic-p060309,0,423229.story

[annalyzer]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/media/photo/2009-07/47841076.jpg

[Jess]

This is awful. I'll look around to see if I recognize anything

[Nut44x4]

Forensic artist fills in the blanks of the most gruesome crimes

PALM BEACH GARDENS- — A left foot in a black sock, severed upper body parts and a skull with a right earring were the only remains police found 15 months ago jammed inside a small steel box.

Exams by medical examiners, anthropologists and forensics experts still have not put a name on the corpse. But now the Latino male between 45-65 has a face, sketched by Palm Beach County Sheriff' Office Forensic Artist Paul Moody.

The sketch - a clear plastic paperweight of a human skull sits on Moody's desk - took about three days. The black-and-white drawing is being circulated in the media, to local police departments - anywhere where someone might recognize the victim.

"I look for something in the eyes, nose, ears, mouth. Everybody has a distinctive feature," said Moody, 57, a former Illinois state trooper who joined sheriff's office last year.

The investigation started when workers clearing non-native plants near Beeline Highway and Jog Road found the 3/16-inch-thick box. Cringing at the stench and puzzled that the box was welded shut, they notified police. Officers pried it open.

The lack of a full body prevented the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner from determining the cause of death or gaining other information during the autopsy.

"Usually, we can find blood or hair under the fingernails from a struggle. But we had no hands," said Moody.

Next, the corpse was sent the University of Florida's C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory in Gainesville. So many Florida law enforcement agencies send the lab corpses that they are sometimes delayed a year and longer before being identified. Palm Beach County sends about 10 corpses a year to the 2,400-square-foot lab for study, said Tony Mead, operations manager for the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's office.

"They find things we can't. Like the age from the ribs. The sex and nationality from the skull. How many children a woman had from the pelvis. They are amazing," said Mead.

The C.A. Pound lab report was horrifying.

The killers used an electric, fine-toothed saw - 14 teeth per inch - to dismember the body. Cuts from the saw were found to the vertebra, ribs, head and shoulder. The saw severed the man's lower jaw. And chipped his upper front teeth.

"We don't know if he was alive when the injuries occurred," said Moody.

The skull and results of the investigation were given to Moody on June 10. Now it was his turn.

State-of-the-art software exists that allows forensic artists to smooth, age, thin, thicken and groom their renderings as they do their final drawing. But Moody likes the old-fashioned way.

He uses a quarter to draw the outline of a victim's eyes, as both have a diameter of 25 millimeters. He then draws the pupil, which measures 12 millimeters across. Next, he draws the eye ligaments and muscles. Sometimes, he's stumped when drawing the hairstyle of a decomposed female. He has asked his daughter, a hair stylist, for advice.

"I tell her the shape of the skull. She tells me the latest style that person might have worn," he said.

While the lack of remains hindered investigators, they had one advantage. A body left outside in the South Florida environment would be down to the bone in about 48-72 hours. The airtight box preserved the skin and hair.

Moody's sketches have drawn a few calls since they were published earlier this month.

"We've gotten a couple calls. I'm optimistic that the delay (between finding the body and the sketches) won't hinder the investigation," said Palm Beach Gardens Detective Richard Geist.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/1137686.html

[annalyzer]

I used to live on Jog Road, in the late 80's. It was nothing to wake to news of a body being found nearby.

[packy]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/media/photo/2009-07/47841076.jpg

Hope the sketch gets around in the public as much as possible.

[Jess]

It is confusing.

The article says to the effect that the person who did this wanted to make sure the remains would not be found, then dropping the box where it was found does not fit with that idea. Did someone else find this and dump the box because they did not want to be involved I wonder.

I agree that it's confusing. It also doesn't fit that theory because the person made sure that the body parts were kept preserved (or did I imagine that part).

[Nut44x4]

I don't see where it says he was identified, but here goes:

http://unsolveditn.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=50

Meyahna reports the following:

I forgot to post someone from the CUE said on another group this unidentified: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/07/11/pbgforensics.html

was identified as Francisco Cuevas:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7qr-CWmQebc/Sl4yFzlxcFI/AAAAAAAAEco/0KERNUeEWfI/s400/fc.jpg
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/mcicsearch/FlyerNewPerson.asp?Case_Id=26499&case_nbr
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Project Jason >>
http://projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=4664.0;wap2

[packy]

They did say at another site that he was ID'd through dental records.

[Jess]

Sounds like he died horribly.