JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The family of a 36-year-old Jacksonville man found dead in the Ortega River is pleading for answers after the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide this week.
Authorities with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the body of Robert Velleca was recovered from the river on Sept. 20. The medical examiner’s office officially determined the manner of death to be homicide on Oct. 8, the same day his family says Velleca was scheduled to testify in a violent assault case connected to an attack he survived last year.
“He was a somebody,” Chad Mallory, his stepfather said. “Robert had a family.”…