St. Pete’s last ‘John Doe’ homicide victim identified after 46 years through DNA technology

Cold case murder victim identified after 46 years

St. Petersburg Police used advanced DNA technology to identify their final "John Doe" homicide victim as 29-year-old Johnny Bradshaw, bringing closure to a 1980 double-homicide cold case that had haunted his family for decades. FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - For nearly five decades, he was only known as a cold case homicide victim. But now, the St. Petersburg Police Department has named him the last remaining unidentified homicide victim: Johnny Bradshaw.

The breakthrough comes 46 years after Bradshaw, a 29-year-old from Tennessee, was murdered alongside another man in a local motel.

The backstory:

Bradshaw and an associate, Jack Roy Davis, were staying at the location that used to be the Siesta Motel on 34th Street when both were shot in the head, according to detectives. 

While Davis was identified immediately, Bradshaw remained a mystery.

For years, investigators relied on an artist’s rendering and a photo of a unique Italian horn pendant the victim was wearing, hoping someone would recognize him, but the trail eventually went cold.

"He didn't have any ID on him," Detective Wallace Pavelski said. "He didn't have any fingerprints on file. And obviously, back then, we didn't have DNA in the system."

Pavelski says detectives were up against a lot of obstacles at the time of the murders, due to a lack of tools and resources.

Pavelski says a lot of DNA technology didn't exist until the early 2000s, and even then, the capabilities were limited.

"Even five to eight years ago, a lot of the genealogy wasn't available where we could just put a profile in and start building a family tree back to 1800s," Pavelski said.

In 2010, investigators removed Bradshaw's body from the grave and his remains were stored at the medical examiner's office to gather evidence, but technology at the time did not yield a name.

The shooting suspects, Kyle Watson and his girlfriend, David Ann Thomas, were quickly identified after the murders, but the case took a bizarre turn before St. Pete detectives could make an arrest.

The two returned to Knoxville, Tennessee and Thomas shot and killed Watson. Thomas was eventually caught and served prison time for being an accessory after the fact. She has since passed away.

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Dig deeper:

In 2023, Cold Case Detective Wallace Pavelski sent new bone samples to Othram Labs, a private lab in Texas specializing in forensic genealogy.

"My biggest thing is getting closure for the families and then, putting the victims with the families where they're supposed to be and getting them buried properly, giving everybody a sense of closure," Pavelski said.

They were able to successfully extract a full DNA profile, leading investigators to family members living in Texas and California. Bradshaw’s two living sisters told police they had been searching for their brother since the year he vanished.

"They were able to extract a new DNA profile that we could use for genealogy," Pavelski said. "So, once the profile was extracted, they were willing to start that process for us with genealogy. We had investigators from, I think it was Bedford Police Department in Texas go out to those areas and speak with one of the sisters, and she immediately said that she was missing her brother since 1980."

What they're saying:

"Through years of relentless dedication and the use of advanced forensic technology, our detectives have worked tirelessly to restore names, identities, and dignity," the department said in a statement.