FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — The Flagler County Sheriff's Office recently was able to identify the body of a man who was found 26 years ago.
With the help of a private forensic genetic genealogy corporation, the body was identified as then-58-year-old Robert McPhail.
Back on Sept. 10, 1997, deputies were notified of a body found floating in the Intracoastal waterway, northeast of Sea Ray Boats. Once deputies were on scene, they were able to recover the body of the unknown man from the water.
According to the agency, the man was bound, shot and stabbed multiple times before being dumped in the water.
After being able to estimate the age of the unknown man and his height, the identity was left unsolved for years.
But in 2020, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly created a cold case unit that lent a helping hand in figuring out who exactly the unknown man was.
After submitting the man's bones, it was later revealed the body belonged to McPhail.
The man, who was originally from Canada, moved to the South Florida area sometime in the mid-1990s.
“Cold cases, especially with unidentified victims, and forensic genetic genealogy is a time-consuming process to identify and solve,” Staly said in a statement. “This case required a lot of outside-the-box research and the cooperation of multiple agencies to give the victim a name. Now that we have identified the victim as Robert Bruce McPhail, our Cold Case Unit can work on finding who murdered him and why to bring justice for him and his family.
"I commend Detective Scalia for diligently working on this case but there is more work to do. We know someone out there has more information and I ask you to call us or Crime Stoppers. We won’t give up until the killer or killer(s) are caught.”
Anyone with information about McPhail’s life or who knows and his murder is asked to submit a tip through email at TIPS@flaglersheriff.com or directly to Cold Case Detective Sarah Scalia at SScalia@flaglersheriff.com, or call 386-313-4911.