His arrest record identifies him as the man found in Aripeka.
By STEVE THOMPSON
Published July 22, 2005
Computerized fingerprint searches had turned up nothing.
But the "old-fashioned, hard work" of a forensic investigator's manual search finally led to the identification of the man whose body was found Sunday in Aripeka, Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said Thursday.
The body was 48-year-old Jeffrey Michael Fix, a sometimes homeless man who came to Florida years ago from Michigan and has a history of indecent exposure convictions.
Doll said investigator Denice Weigand matched the body's fingerprints with those on cards from Fix's arrests in Pasco County.
Hunters found Fix's body in a field, wrapped in a multicolored blue carpet on the side of Old Dixie Highway. Fix had a head wound, and the case has been classified as a homicide.
Fix's brother-in-law, Chuck Murray, who lives in Michigan, said Mount Pleasant police detectives contacted him Wednesday to tell his wife her brother was dead.
Murray said his wife and the rest of the family had lost touch with Fix many years ago.
"She never said if he was homeless or if he had a good job or what he was doing down there," Murray said. "I don't think she really knew."
Despite the identification and notification of next of kin on Wednesday, Pasco sheriff's officials did not publicly release the identity until Thursday evening. This was for investigative reasons, Doll said.
"If the killer or killers doesn't know we know who this person is," Doll said. "It may give them a false sense of security."
Lisa Barabas-Henry, director of Holy Ground homeless shelter in Hudson, said Fix was a resident there in 1995.
"All he carried with him when he came was a Bible and some books," Barabas-Henry said. She said at that time, Fix didn't have a wife or children. He had attended 11/2 years of college, she said, and had an interest in computers.
"I remember him very clearly," she said. "He was tall, thin and wanted to get his life together and worked very hard to do so."
He stayed about a month before finding a job and a place to stay, she said. Since then, he returned briefly at least once.
State records show Fix spent time in and out of jail, with convictions for indecent exposure in 1995, 2002 and 2003. His record also shows convictions for shoplifting and grand theft. His last known address was on Oelsner Street in New Port Richey, Doll said.
Anyone with information, or who may have seen Fix last week is asked to call Detective Jeff Bousquet at toll-free 1-800-854-2862, ext. 7841.
Steve Thompson covers crime in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is sthompson@sptimes.com
