After 25 years, DNA identifies Collier County homicide victim

NAPLES, Fla. – After 25 years, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office has identified the body of a woman found in the Big Cypress National Preserve. 

Investigators credit advances in forensic science with identifying the remains of Patricia Minnis.

Minnis‘ body was found under heavy brush by a prison work crew from the now defunct Deep Lake Road Prison near Gannett Strand along U.S. Highway 41 East, 22 miles south of Evergrades City, on April 3, 1990. 

Investigators believe Minnis, who died from blunt force trauma to the head, was dead for about three weeks when her badly decomposed body was discovered about 30 feet from the road. An autopsy also revealed extensive dental work and metal plates in her lower back, but her identity was still unknown, deputies said. 

A forensic expert with the Jacksonville County Sheriff’s Office used Minnis‘ skull to rebuild her face in 1999 to help garner clues in the case, but no one contacted investigators. 

Minnis, who was 57 when she was found, was identified in July after her DNA, resubmitted for testing at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, was identified as a strong match with DNA submitted by her daughter, the sheriff’s office said. 

The woman, who authorities did not identify, told detectives she and her siblings did not initially suspect foul play behind their mother’s disappearance. Minnis and her husband frequently drove across the country and it was normal for her to not contact family for weeks. 

The daughter became suspicious after her stepsister found her mother’s purse in her recreational vehicle. When she asked her father about it, he said Minnis ran off with another man while they were in Florida and left the purse behind, the sheriff’s office said. 

“The purse was key to everything because it initiated enough questions and suspicions from both children,” Collier County Sheriff’s Office Detective Thomas Cullen said.  

The daughter submitted her DNA to a national database in 2006, hoping it would help find her mother, deputies said. 

Investigators have identified a potential person of interest in the ongoing case.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Collier County Sheriff’s Office at (239) 252-9300 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 780-TIPS.