ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit has announced a major breakthrough in a decades-old homicide investigation. Detectives have identified the remains discovered in a shallow grave on Crescent Beach in April 1985 as belonging to Mary Alice Pultz of Rockville, Maryland.
Construction workers initially discovered the remains while digging for a beach walkover. Investigators determined the victim, a white female between 30 and 50 years old, had been the victim of a homicide. For nearly 40 years, her identity remained a mystery.
In 2011, forensic experts at the University of South Florida created a facial reconstruction in hopes of generating leads, but the case remained unsolved. In 2023, detectives partnered with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Othram, a Texas-based lab specializing in forensic genetic genealogy. DNA extracted from the remains led to possible relatives in North Carolina and Virginia…