It was January 5th, 1988, and a maid entering room 227 at the Marco Polo Hotel in Miami was shocked to find the remains of what appeared to be a teenage boy lying in the bathtub. The victim was white, between the ages of ten and twenty-one years old, stood around five-foot-six and weighed approximately one-hundred-fifty pounds. He had light brown hair that was fairly short in the front and somewhat longer in the back, and his eyes are variously listed as brown or gray.
He was clad in jeans, high-top sneakers, and a white t-shirt with a flag decal on the front. Women’s clothing was also discovered in the hotel room, though it was unclear who it belonged to.
The victim—dubbed Dade County John Doe—had been spotted around the hotel by other guests and employees, and from these witnesses, police were able to determine that the boy had told people his name was Robert or Bobby Copeland, that he was a foster child from New York, and that he was part of a group of youngsters selling magazine subscriptions in the area. Though the name and back story he gave was looked into by investigators, none of the details could be verified, though it was later discovered that he had been using someone else’s Social Security number.
The boy had been stabbed multiple times. Additionally, he had several healed scars on his wrists, forearms, and his right thigh, perhaps indicating prior abuse or possibly self-harm, though these specificities have likewise been of no help in identifying the victim.
Police arrested the probable killer not long after the body was found: this was another teenager, Mark Robinson, who had reportedly run away from his home in Georgia after stealing a car and several knives from his father. Robinson had been staying at the Marco Polo Hotel at the time of the slaying, but evaded authorities; he was later apprehended in Las Vegas, though the details of his arrest are slim.
Dade County John Doe remains unidentified.
Crime Immemorial 