Fort Myers police paused on a 37-year-old cold case in January when DNA led them to the alleged killer of Claretha ‘Coco’ Gibbs.
James Glen Drinnon, 65, of Okeechobee, was arrested for admitting killing Gibbs after matching DNA from a rag found at the crime scene in the Palm Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard area.
Killing solved 1984 Claretha ‘Coco’ Gibbs’ murder solved: Fort Myers police link DNA to suspect on rags
The June 26, 1984 case was one of the oldest unsolved murders in the region.
Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers lists 115 open murder investigations in Lee and Collier counties.
Here are seven cold cases from the 1980s that have yet to be resolved:
Maria Rabbit
Date: May 30, 1981
Location: Fort Myers
Background: Hare, 18, disappeared from an Edison Mall parking lot after picking up her mother from work. Her mother found Hare’s car abandoned with the door unlocked. Almost two months later, Hares’ decomposed body was found in Lehigh Acres.
Serial killer Christopher Wilder, who ran fake modeling sessions in Florida shopping malls, was named as a suspect in the case. In 1984 he was killed in a police shootout.
Michelle Hart
Date: February 11, 1983
Location: Fort Myers
Background: Investigators believe that 20-year-old Hart was killed while hitchhiking from Fort Myers to Fort Myers Beach. Her body was found floating in the water at the foot of the Cape Coral Bridge. A coroner’s investigator said the injuries from four blunt blows were caused by a heavy object such as a tire iron or a long screwdriver.
James Weston Chambers
Date: August 11, 1984
Location: Estero
Background: Chambers, 49, was found shot dead in his car near Interstate 75 and Corkscrew Road. Investigators speculated that Chambers may have been killed by serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who killed six men along Florida highways in 1989 and 1990 and was executed by the state in 2002, according to FBI documents. Wuornos was suspected of six other murders involving men.
Clarence Eric Dawson
Date: September 9, 1988
Location: Estero
Background: Two months after his disappearance, hunters found Dawson, a 43-year-old real estate developer, in a shallow grave with a .22 caliber gunshot wound to his head. He wanted to meet with a potential investor and go to Corkscrew Road to find out what was his.
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Sharon Jones
Date: September 9, 1988
Location: Naples
Background: Jones, 27, was strangled and tied with parts of her own dress, and her body was found in an alley north of the 1200 block of Central Avenue. She went missing for 10 months after being last seen at the Gordon River East apartment complex with two men, Arthur Nesmith and Robert Richet.
Jack Parker
Date: March 26, 1989
Location: North Fort Myers
Background: Parker, 72, was found dead in a sewer near a homeless camp in the back of Walmart Plaza on North Cleveland Avenue.
Wounds fixed:“They say time heals all wounds, it doesn’t,” says the sister of murder victim Coleen Egland
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Coleen Egland
Date: 17th December 1989
Location: Fort Myers
Background: Egland’s body was found with severe head and face injuries the day before her 26th birthday in a wooded area near a rest area on Daniels Parkway and Interstate 75. She was last seen in the Gladiolus Drive area 15 days earlier. Her family continues to press the Lee County Sheriff’s office for responses.
Individuals with information about these crimes or those involved are urged to call SWFL Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477). Crime Stoppers pays a cash reward of up to $ 3,000 if your tip results in an arrest.
See similar https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2021/10/25/southwest-florida-unsolved-murders-1980-s-lee-collier-counties/5825596001/
The post Southwest Florida unsolved murders from the 1980s; Lee, Collier Counties first appeared on Daily Florida Press.from Daily Florida Press https://dailyfloridapress.com/southwest-florida-unsolved-murders-from-the-1980s-lee-collier-counties-2/
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