Two decades later, slaying victim finally has a name
For 22 years, detectives tried to identify a body found near the Gandy Bridge in 1981. A chance meeting in May gave them the break they needed.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published June 20, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - Twenty-two years ago, a dead man was found floating near the Gandy Bridge with a gunshot wound to the neck and barbells tied to his legs.
He had been in the water several days, which made his fingerprints poor. He carried no identification. A name had been written on the inside of his shorts and shirt, but the writing was faded.
A dental plate in his mouth had what appeared to be a Social Security number engraved in it, but the federal government said no person had been issued that number.
Without knowing the man's name, there was no place to start the investigation. The man remained an anonymous homicide victim for two decades.
But relying on sophisticated data base searches by computer experts with the federal government, Pinellas sheriff's detectives have recently identified the man as a U.S. Army veteran who had been working on the carnival circuit before his death.
His name was Steven John Clancy. He was 25 years old when he was killed. His family members, who live in Massachusetts, never filed a missing persons report because of his transient lifestyle.
But now, detectives will begin trying to solve a 22-year-old slaying. "The investigation starts now," said Detective James Beining, who has been assigned the case. "It's starting from scratch."
Beining said he is learning more about Clancy and where he was before he was killed.
Clancy was a native of Arlington, Mass. He was in the Army from 1972 to 1975. He tried to hold down a steady job, but working 9 to 5 wasn't for him. He joined the carnival in the mid 1970s.
"He seemed to like that type of lifestyle," Beining said. "His family wasn't real keen on it. And they really didn't see him much."
Clancy went home for his parents' 25th wedding anniversary in 1979. They saw him again in January 1981. That was the last time.
About a month later, a fisherman casting from the shore near the Gandy Bridge saw a body in the water. It floated upright, as if standing, because of the barbells.
Investigators found writing on the inside of the man's shorts and shirt. It looked like a name, but it was faint. They thought it said Claucy.
"It was faded," Beining said. "It came off a guy who was floating in the water a while who was decomposing."
The name didn't lead anywhere. Investigators also noted that the man had an upper dental plate. A nine-digit number - thought to be a Social Security number - was on the plate. But that also led nowhere.
Detectives resurrected the case several times over the years, but never had any luck. Then on May 20, at a gathering in Tampa of investigators who work "cold cases," detectives got their break. Officials had invited to a meeting Frank Cioffi, resident agent in charge of the Social Security Administration Office of Investigations in Clearwater.
Cioffi told the investigators that, with modern computer technology, his agency could help them with unsolved cases by searching data bases.
Sgt. Mike Ring of the Sheriff's Office homicide unit thought of the body found near Gandy.
He pulled Cioffi aside. A few days later, Ring was in Cioffi's office, providing him with all the information on the case. Cioffi summoned the help of agency computer specialists in Baltimore.
The search started large: About 400-million Social Security numbers have been issued in history.
Cioffi asked them to use a number of factors to whittle down the list: A white man between 20 and 40 who had not earned wages since 1981. And who perhaps had a name similar to Claucy or Clancy.
Using some of the information, computer specialists shaved that down to 27,000 names. They chipped it to 7,600, then to 26 names.
And within a couple of days, they had it down to one: Steven John Clancy.
Detectives determined Clancy had been arrested in Tampa 16 days before his body was found. He had been charged with disorderly intoxication for waving a gun at a bar and yelling at patrons.
Investigators culled fingerprints from that arrest report and compared them to the poor prints taken from the body. There was enough there to confirm: It was a match.
Now comes an even bigger challenge: Chasing a killer from 22 years ago.
"It's pretty great strides just to identify him after 22 years," Beining said. "Now let's see if we can solve it."
To help
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Detective James Beining at 582-6337.
