LAUDERHILL, FLA. (WSVN) - More than half a century after two ATV riders stumbled upon a body dumped on a dirt road outside Lauderhill, investigators finally know who the victim was. Now they need the public’s help to find out who killed him.
His name is Robert Freese. He was born in Nassau County, New York in 1957, and was living near the 700 block of NW 6th Street in Pompano Beach when he died. He stood 6 feet tall, weighed around 170 to 175 pounds and had blonde hair and blue eyes.
In the summer of 1975, his partially clothed body was found on a dirt road roughly four miles west of the 4400 block of North University Drive in Lauderhill, an area patrolled at the time by the Broward Sheriff’s Office. He had no ID on him, and there was little physical evidence at the scene, leading investigators to believe he had been killed somewhere else and left there.
The case eventually went cold.
Decades passed. Then, BSO Cold Case Homicide Detective John Curcio got assigned to it. Curcio spent months digging through the case before turning to modern forensic technology.
Working with BSO’s Crime Lab Latent Print Unit, he was able to match a fingerprint to Freese, which unlocked his name, his physical description, his birthplace and a misdemeanor arrest in Pompano Beach from just a few months before his death.
“Somebody’s been looking for their loved one for 51 years,” Curcio said. “And every holiday, they’ve been looking for him, and we now know who he is.”
However, Freese’s family still hasn’t been found. A subpoena to Nassau County for his birth certificate didn’t turn up enough to track them down.
Curcio believes they may not even know what happened to him and that they could hold the missing piece needed to crack the case.
Anyone who knew Freese or his family is asked to contact Det. Curcio at 954-321-4212 or submit a tip through the SaferWatch app. To stay anonymous, reach out to Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477), at browardcrimestoppers.org, or by dialing **TIPS from any cellphone.
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