Charleston, S.C., officials have traced David Allen Jenkins' background to New Port Richey.
By GEOFF DOUGHERTY
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 25, 1999
Authorities in South Carolina are trying to find the relatives of a man who grew up in New Port Richey and died in Charleston.
David Allen Jenkins, 32, was staying on a shrimp boat in November when he apparently tripped on a nail, fell overboard and drowned, according to the Charleston County Coroner's Office.
The Coroner's Office tracked Jenkins' roots to the North Suncoast through fingerprints and police records, said deputy coroner Bobbi Jo O'Neal. Now they are holding his body until Jenkins' next of kin can be notified and make funeral arrangements.
"We feel like there is probably someone out there who would want to know that he's passed," said O'Neal.
Eventually Jenkins will be cremated by the state if no relatives come forward. But O'Neal views that as a last resort.
"We'll keep searching until we find someone," she said. "Our office isn't going to go forward with that kind of thing until we have exhausted all our resources"
Jenkins, who went by John Wayne Bennett in South Carolina, was born in Miami to Nancy Joyce Adams and Ray Sammy Jenkins. The family later moved to New Port Richey. David Jenkins subsequently got into trouble and was placed in foster care in St. Petersburg, O'Neal said.
The coroner's office has tried to locate foster parents, but most of the records from that era were destroyed in a fire, O'Neal said.
Jenkins' mother remarried at some point and is probably known as Joyce Long.
Jenkins eventually left Florida for South Carolina, where he worked odd jobs and amassed an arrest record for offenses such as disorderly conduct and drunken driving, O'Neal said.
When he died, he left a common-law wife and a child, O'Neal said, but they were unable to provide information about other relatives.
Anyone with information about Jenkins' next of kin may call O'Neal at (843) 974-6430.
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