Arrest at 1000 BLOCK OF OCEAN SHORE BLVD on 06/19/2025 12:00 AM

Name

Erick Melendez Bentiez

Missing Age

16

Est. Current Age

17

Last Seen

Daytona Beach, FL on 03/25/2024

Physical Description

Race: Hispanic Ethnicity: Latino Gender: Male Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Height: 5'8" Weight: 160 lbs

Case Number

MP125663

Name

Howard Evans

Age

29

Cause of Death

Trauma

Info

Evans’ skeletal remains were discovered jan. 18, 1986, off pump house road near jones island road in the ormond beach area. His remains had been there for an undetermined amount of time. Forensic examination of the skeleton revealed violent trauma, and the death was determined to be a homicide. Although various leads and tips were pursued throughout the years, the victim was unable to be identified, and the case went cold as “john doe 1986.” between 2006 and 2011, dna was obtained from the skeletal remains and sent to several laboratories for comparison to dna in the fbi’s combined dna index system (codis), but there were no matches. In 2014, facial reconstruction models were generated through the florida institute of forensic anthropology and applied science at the university of south florida. In 2019, the major case unit received information regarding social media posts generated in a missing persons group. The posts advised that a woman’s son, howard evans, had been missing since 1984 and was last known to be in volusia county. Evans was about 29 years old at the time he went missing. It was determined that no formal missing person’s report was ever generated for evans. Due to evans being missing for 6 years, the family had him legally declared deceased in 1990. As the follow-up investigation continued, detectives obtained a dna sample from evans’ mother, who resided in south carolina.

Agency

Volusia County Sheriff