29-Year-Old Mystery Solved: Pinellas Park Crash Victim Identified

PINELLAS PARK, FL -- It took 29 years to identify a man killed in a traffic accident on Park Boulevard in Pinellas Park. But, thanks to determined cold case investigators, a family finally has closure.

The pedestrian who was struck and killed by a semi-tractor trailer truck in the 4600 block of Park Boulevard on July 22, 1989, has been identified a Maurice Glenn Cooksey Jr., 37.

Pinellas Park Police were able to identify Cooksey with help from the Pinellas County Medical Examiner's Office and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Police say Cooksey walked into the path of oncoming traffic. He had no identification on him and, despite releasing descriptions, sketches and photos of Cooksey, no one ever came forward to identify him.

During a follow-up investigation in 2008, Cooksey's descriptions, dental records and a facial approximation were entered into his NamUs online file and DNA samples were sent to the FBI for testing.

However, it wasn't until Sept. 27 that the cold case began to warm up. The Pinellas Park Police took a missing persons report from the Cooksey family searching for Maurice Glenn Cooksey Jr., who went missing during the summer of 1989 from a medical facility in Pinellas Park.

Cooksey had a caregiver assigned to him who apparently had mis-communicated with the family about his disappearance from the medical facility so a missing persons report was never made 29 years ago.

On Aug. 24, the family of the missing man also entered Cooksey's information into NamUs and a possible match was made to the information Pinellas Park Police provided in 2008.

Detectives with the Pinellas Park Police Department worked with the family and the Pinellas County Medical Examiner's Office to confirm the identity of the dead man, and family members were able to make a positive ID on Oct. 19.

Image via Pinellas Park Police

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