Post by Scumhunter on May 27, 2023 14:55:19 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: Panhandle Crime Stoppers website)
From the Panama City News Herald (newsherald.com) (2019 article):
PANAMA CITY BEACH — When a local man who was known to regularly pick up hitchhikers and help out families in need went missing in August 1996, family and friends were immediately suspicious.
When his body was found at an illegal dump site in Pine Log Forest four months later, their worst fears were confirmed. But more than two decades later, the question of who killed 32-year-old Robert Fraser remains unanswered.
Fraser, a self-employed construction sub-contractor, was last seen leaving his regular haunt, Sassy Morgan’s, late on Aug. 5. According to past news stories, Fraser was friends with the owner and was helping him out that night. When he left, Fraser promised to call the owner, Richard Lowell, once he got home, as he was leaving for a business trip the next day.
That phone call never came.
In fact, evidence suggests Fraser never made it back to his home in the Bay Point neighborhood that night. Realizing she hadn’t heard from her son, Fraser’s mother went to his home to check on him. There, she found clothes laid out on his bed, ready to be packed for a business trip he never took. Security camera footage confirmed Fraser never made it to the subdivision and hadn’t been back since Aug. 5.
“To tell you the truth, I feel like something terrible has happened to him,'' Fraser’s mother, Margaret Brown, said in a News Herald article. “I know he would have called me if he was able to.''
Fraser was known to drive an extremely distinctive truck — a new, customized Ford F-350, painted royal blue with silver, purple and pink stripes and has a diamond-cut tool box. It was so distinctive that truck publications had contacted Fraser wanting to feature it in their magazines. Knowing that it would be their best bet at finding him, police put out an alert, asking people to be on the lookout for the truck.
Three weeks after his disappearance, the truck was located in the parking lot of Beachwalk Condominiums, off Back Beach Road. The person who reported it stated that the truck had been at the complex, which serves both short and long-term rentals, about two weeks. The alarm was disabled, law enforcement said, and the truck was locked.
While police initially didn’t comment on what was found inside the truck, eventually it was released that investigators found blood, both in the truck itself and on a sheet that came from the condos. Investigators also noted there was clay and dust on the tires and around the truck, as if it had recently been driven along a dirt road.
Fraser’s mother said her son would never have left his truck in that condition.
“He washed it at least every other day,'' Brown said at the time. “He never got on a dirt road with it. It was his pride and joy.''
Police searched the wooded area around the condos, but turned up nothing. They told the media they had also interviewed Fraser’s friends and business associates, but did not name a suspect.
Four months later, at an illegal dump site in Pine Long Forest, a hunter found human remains. Under burned trash and about 18 inches of dirt was Fraser’s mummified body, later identified through fingerprints and the wallet found in his back pocket. It was later determined he died of a gunshot wound, though police did not comment on where he was shot or the type of weapon used.
A forensic entomologist, studying insect activity on Fraser’s body, determined he had been dead “at least” 24 hours before he was dumped, as the type of insect found does not develop underground.
Further answers, though, remain elusive, as a suspect has never been named in the case and no update provided in a number of years.
Anyone with information in this case can call Panhandle CrimeStoppers at 850-785-8477.
www.newsherald.com/story/news/2019/04/28/unsolved-bay-county-unsolved-homicide-of-robert-fraser/5320023007/
Thoughts? The above article is from 2019 however as of today's posting date (May 27th, 2023), Robert's case is sadly still listed as an unsolved homicide on Panhandle Crime Stoppers:
pcstips.com/sitemenu.aspx?ID=275&P=unsolved
Admin Note: If you have any (news-related) updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form