After more than half a century, victim ID’d in Charlotte County homicide

There is a renewed push to solve a 51-year-old homicide case, the oldest on record, in Charlotte County.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office is looking for information involving the murder of John Deal.

Deal, 71, was shot and killed in 1971 on Harbor Boulevard in Port Charlotte but his body was never found.

Back when the crime occurred, detectives could not confirm who the victim was but now there is DNA testing.

Also a challenge was the rarity of prosecuting a case without a body. But improving technology now proves he died and was shot in the head.

The evidence they did have included broken eyeglasses, a bank notice made out to Betty Faber, a 22-caliber shell casing and blood.

“Sometimes time is an enemy. And sometimes it’s a friend,” said Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Det. Mike Gandy. “The DNA technology is improved so much. And remember, back during that time, it was pretty rare to see a case prosecuted where no body was present.”

New technology has allowed the department to do additional testing, said Mike Vogel, with the Major Crimes Cold Case Homicide Unit.

Faber was 27 years old at the time of Deal’s death. When detectives talked to her, she was driving Deal’s car. Those detectives found holes and blood in the trunk.

Their relationship?

“He was older, she was younger, and she lived in his place, and he provided her with a lot of money. So I’ll leave that to you,” said Det. Kurt Mehl, with the cold case unit.

Faber worked for a fish company. She exclaimed the blood away at the time, claiming it was from fish and shrimp.

But more than 50 years later, detectives confirmed the blood belonged to Deal, thanks to a DNA sample from his nephew.

“We sent it off to the lab and along with the blood that had been collected from the roadway and the blood from the trunk. And they were able to determine that Mr. Deal’s nephew and the blood that was located on the roadway, they were in fact male relatives,” Vogel said.

“We intend to keep working on this case until we can get it solved. If that can happen. And I feel reasonably confident that there’s a good possibility we can do that,” Gandy added.

Authorities now want to speak with Fabor and almost 20 others who may know what happened to Deal.

• Andy Naylor (Lee, Charlotte County)
• Betty Faber AKA: Betty Cole, Betty Naylor, Betty Bird (Lee, Charlotte, and Sarasota County)
• Frank Jenkins AKA Sonny Jenkins (Lee County)
• Brenda Jenkins AKA Brenda Ray (Lee County)
• Ted Smith (Lee, Charlotte County)
• Shirlene McMillan Williams (Lee County)
• William Duffy (Charlotte County)
• John Bird (Sarasota County)
• John Faber (Charlotte, Lee County)
• James Harkcom (Lee County)
• Clarence Whickum (Lee County)
• Larry Lopez (Lee County)
• Ida Mae Pinder Dailey (Lee County)
• John Nelson (Lee County)
• Donald Naylor (Lee, Charlotte County)
• Robert Naylor (Charlotte County)

“We realize how much time has passed since this murder but we do believe there are still people in the area that have direct or indirect information related to this case,” the sheriff’s office said.

If you had contact with any of these people around the time of the crime, or have heard any of them speak about the crime, please contact the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office at 941-639-2101.