Open caseUnsolved murder
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In short: An open murder case involving Robert "Bruce" McPhail from Flagler Beach, Florida, September 10, 1997. Flagler County Sheriff's Office is the investigating agency (case no. 97-21613). Tips: Flagler County Sheriff's Office, 386-313-4911.
Our summary of the public record. The small numbers show where each fact comes from. Tap one to see the source.
On the morning of Sept. 10, 1997, workers testing a boat spotted a man's body in the Intracoastal Waterway near the old Sea Ray canal in Flagler Beach. Investigators said he had been bound, stabbed several times and shot before he ended up in the water. Nothing on him gave a name, and for almost 26 years he was known only as an unidentified white male, with a 1997 facial approximation as the only picture of what he might have looked like.
Flagler County's Cold Case Unit, created in 2020, sent his remains to Othram, a Texas forensic lab, in 2021. DNA sequencing and genetic genealogy led detectives to his name, which the Sheriff's Office announced in August 2023: Robert McPhail, 58, who went by his middle name, Bruce. He came from the Kenora and Winnipeg area of Manitoba, Canada, and had moved to South Florida in the mid-1990s. Detectives said he had no known connection to Flagler County.
A day after his name was released, someone who had known him in South Florida sent the Cold Case Unit a photo of him from the 1980s. The Sheriff's Office says the case is still an open homicide and that the people who knew Bruce in South Florida in the 1980s and 1990s may hold the information needed to learn who killed him and why.
What happened, in order.
Workers testing a boat spot a man's body in the Intracoastal Waterway near the old Sea Ray canal in Flagler Beach. The FCSO dive team recovers him.134
Forensic artist Betty Pat Gatliff (Skullpture Inc.) produces a facial approximation, the only image of the unknown man for 26 years. He is entered in NamUs as UP3055.56
Investigators tell the Palm Coast Observer that analysis suggested the man may have been of Eastern European descent with costly European dental work.7
Sheriff Rick Staly creates FCSO's first dedicated Cold Case Unit.8
His remains are sent to Othram for forensic-grade genome sequencing and genetic genealogy.35
FCSO announces the man has been identified as Robert "Bruce" McPhail, 58, of the Kenora/Winnipeg area of Manitoba.1345
A person who knew him in South Florida provides the Cold Case Unit with a photo of him from the 1980s.16
On the 27th anniversary, the case is reported as still unsolved and actively investigated.9
Still listed by FCSO as an unsolved homicide with an open tip form.12
What is known for sure. Each one is checked against a source.
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