I don't know who it is but it's not uncommon. A couple of weeks ago three bodies were found floating in different areas around STT. They're usually identified within a few days when friends/relatives alert authorities that they are miissing. Are you asking because you're missing someone?

The story about the body is also on the Tradewinds web site. It's on page two at the bottom..."Male Found August 8 Floating in Cruz Bay Still Not Identified." Still no word on who this guy is, which I think is strange considering his distinctive tattoos, and the fact that a travelers check and birth certificate with the same name were found.

Oh, gosh no, I'm not missing anyone. That seems crazy to me though....I'm not used to unidentified bodies showing up, not in my neck of the woods anyway. I had no idea that it was uncommon around there...I've never heard of anything like it over the past 4 years that I've been going to STJ.

Interesting comment. 10 years going to Stj, sometimes once a year, sometimes twice a year and always for about 2 weeks. I guess they must be showing up during the period of time we're not visiting.

I know you're a big time poster on the forums, but that was certainly a bit of talking 'smack', doncha think.

promoguy,

I don't understand what you mean by "talking smack" or why my comment seems especially interesting to you.

TeresaRae asked a question. I politely told her I don't know the identity of the latest victim but that what happened is not uncommon here. We are surrounded by water and people die in it, just as the mainland has highways and people die on those. Many victims take awhile to identify because being found in a U.S. territory doesn't mean that the victim is American. We are close to the BVI and we are also a point of entry for illegal immigrants so identification can involve multiple countries. On the off chance that TeresaRae was asking because the description sounded like it could be a friend or neighbor, I asked if she was missing someone. Had she replied in the affirmative I would've sent her a private message with suggestions about how to proceed to determine if the body is in fact the person she suspects it might be. Instead she said she wasn't missing anyone and explained that unidentified bodies are uncommon where she lives. Floating bodies are not an everyday occurrence here so it is not surprising that it doesn't happen during the weeks you visit. When they do occur it is mentioned in the media with about the same emphasis as local stateside papers note fatal car crashes.

I really don't understand why you find my response offensive.

Interesting comparison....car wrecks vs. drownings. I hadn't thought of it that way...I was just thinking that if a body was found in a lake near my house it would be a really big deal...but it's true, thousands and thousands of people die every year in car wrecks on the mainland...and there is certainly a lot more water than there are roads in the VI. I guess what struck me as even weirder was that the poor guy hasn't been identified in over two weeks time...I guess EVERYTHING down there is on island time. Hopefully his family will find him soon and he'll get a proper burial.

Hi TeresaRae.

Usually floating bodies are identified quicker. As Andrea mentioned, this body has distinguishing tattoos and was found with a birth certificate and traveler's checks so it is odd that the body is still unidentified but perhaps the traveler's checks and birth certificate belong to someone else or perhaps next of kin have not been located. Unfortunately there are always some bodies that nobody claims and if in this instance the body is that of a homeless drifter we may never know his identity.

My name is Brad and I live in Atlanta, Georgia. The body found in Cruz Bay is actually my uncle Keith, who police informed us is now dead. They informed us yesterday, September 14th. My uncle is from Connecticut and my family is not sure why he was in the islands. I know he grew up in St. Thomas while my grandpa worked for a phone company at the time. Perhaps he was in the islands trying to find peace... Despite the mystery behind it, we are all very sad to hear about this death. Hope this provides you with some insight.

Thank you for the information and sorry for your loss. Was in Cruz Bay when this happened and since returning to CT I was wondering if they had identified the man. Again sorry for the loss of your uncle. It certainly was a tragedy.

Hi Brad,
Thanks for letting us all know, and very sorry to hear about your loss.

Stepdaughter of Drowning Victim Questions Police Inaction
Written by Jaime Elliott
Monday, 02 October 2006

The stepdaughter of the man who was found floating in Cruz Bay harbor in early August is questioning how the Virgin Islands Police Department handled the case.

Keith Anderson, 51, of Connecticut, who arrived on St. John on July 29 and lodged at the Cinnamon Bay Campgrounds, was found floating in Cruz Bay on the morning of August 8. Virgin Islands National Park rangers retrieved the body at 10:15 a.m. that morning and brought him to the National Park dock in Cruz Bay Creek, where the case was turned over to the VIPD.

There was no identification on the body, but police officers found a travelers check in the victim’s pocket which had a name on it. A Cruz Bay street person approached VIPD officers the same day and handed over a birth certificate which had the same name that was printed on the travelers check, VIPD spokesperson Shawna Richards previously told the St. John Tradewinds.

No Attempt To Contact Family
Despite the leads, VIPD officers did not attempt to contact the name on the travelers check and birth certificate in their possession, according to Anderson’s stepdaughter, Morgan Norberg.

“I’m almost positive that his name was still in the phone book and I don’t understand why no one tried to contact us,” Norberg said.

The family last heard from Anderson on August 6, when he left a phone message stating he was looking for a boat to purchase in Coral Bay, Norberg explained.

“He sounded great on the message, he was totally coherent and said he would be in touch,” his stepdaughter said. “For him to slip into such a state of intoxication that he would walk into the water and die in a day seems far fetched to me. I can’t help but think that something may have happened and the police didn’t pursue it.”

After not hearing from Anderson for a couple of weeks, the family didn’t get worried at first, according to Norberg.

Family Contacts VIPD
“We thought it strange that we had not heard from him but we thought maybe he was on a fishing trip or something,” she said. “After a few more weeks went by, we started getting worried because he would have been in touch with us.”

Norberg said her sister called the VIPD on September 14 and described Anderson – who had several distinguishing tattoos. It was then she was told that police had a body which matched the description, the stepdaughter explained.

“We found out by calling the police,” Norberg said. “We thought we were calling about a missing person and we weren’t prepared to hear to the news.”

No Information from Data Bases
VIPD officials followed procedures on the case, according to the VIPD’s Richards.

“When the gentleman was found floating there was no identification on this person,” Richards said. “Police contacted other Caribbean jurisdictions to find out if anyone matching his description had been reported missing. Police took fingerprints and ran them through our data bases to see if there were any hits that would lead to the identification of the individual.”

If VIPD officers did search data bases, Anderson’s name would have turned up, Norberg explained.
“He has a record, so if they checked, something would have come up,” his stepdaughter said. “I don’t think it would have been hard to find to him.”

VIPD officers were given more information about Anderson’s identity on Septem-ber 15, when they contacted his family, Richards explained.

Documents Found in Locker
“While the investigation was ongoing, the National Park Service found a locker at Cinnamon Bay Campground which had a passport, travelers checks and other documents which were attributed to this individual,” Richards said. “I have a receipt which has the date when the documents were turned over, which is September 15. This information was received by police and it was given over to our major crimes unit who contacted the family.”

Richards did not know whether a toxicology report was conducted on the body.
Anderson’s father – who is estranged from the rest of the family – traveled to the Virgin Islands and identified the body, but Norberg is still seeking answers.

Putting Pieces Together
“Keith’s father is the only one who had the means to go down there,” she said. “We are all in New England and we’re college students who work and couldn’t get there. We’re trying to put the pieces together by whatever means possible.”

The family has not heard from Anderson’s father or VIPD officials, Norberg explained.
“Keith’s father hasn’t returned any phone calls and the police won’t return my calls,” she said. “I want an apology and an explanation for why the police didn’t do more to identify him.”

Not knowing what happened is the hardest part for the family, Norberg explained.

“They are calling it a drowning, but someone could have held his head under the water,” she said. “There has been no follow up. It’s just really, really hard.”

“It’s so hard to grieve when you don’t know what happened,” Norberg said.

How tragic. 🙁 I wonder how that other person got his birth certificate. My thoughts are with the family.

Yeah I immediately thought of that too, how this "street person" had his birth certificate. Also, why was there no autopsy done? That would have shown if there was a head trauma or something else that could have caused his death other than drowning. Which would in turn, would show whether or not there was foul play.

The medical examiner did conduct an autopsy, as stated in a previous Tradewinds article. His findings were consistent with a drowning. (not that this makes the situation any better, just wanted to provide some clarification).

I am the father of the deceased.The information that you have received from Ms Norberg may not be entirely correct. First my wife and I were not estranged from our son. It was only a year and a half ago that he visited us in Georgia. We stayed in touch with him as much as we could by telephone, if not then with his daughter Sara.
Yes I did make the trip to V.I.(Sept 18th) as soon as I heard of his death and I did meet with Doctor Landron(Sept 18th) who did the autopsy. I did identify my son and I and asked the reason for his death and I was informed it was due to drowning. I asked if a toxicology was done and he said no. I met with the V.I PD(Sept 19th),( SGT. Lema) who turned over to me items that were removed from a lock box on STJ. Those items were Traveler's checks, black book with addresses for myself and his daughters and another book that listed things that pertained to the few days that he spent on STJ. Telephone numbers for boats that he was interested in buying, telephone number for a man he knew at Coral Bay(Skinny Legs bar), dollar amount for living quarters
Apparently I didn't have this information until I read this book.
Do I think now there is more to this than just drowning, it does seem odd that he was heard from on August 6th and found dead from drowning on August 8th. My son went down to STJ to live on a boat and he had enough money to do this. Also in this book was a line that he had to a job with a cement company?
There are a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of holes in why it took so long with the information available. The most glaring one is the traveler checks found on him with his name and the birth certificate with his name and my wife's name and my name as father.
MS. Norberg is right that we are all looking for closure but it appears that it won't be coming

Paul, I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope and pray that you'll get the answers that you need.

This is just a heartbreaking story. You will probably never know what exactly happened which is a shame for you and your family. Our thoughts are with you.

Heartbreaking for sure. I'm really sorry to read the Fathers letter like that. To think that he had to use this forum to be heard. One thing to understand is the pace of life in the USVI. You have to actually live there. Then you will be like.." It aint right, but I can understand". If even that is understandable. There is nothing - anyone - can do about the pace there. The service there, the tension among the peoples. I always remembered this "way" of being like a validated excuse by everyone in EVERY capacity there. I heard it from the local government officials, the police, the affluent, and every freakin business I came across. " ... iss da island life " one would say. If you start living there, you start doing the same thing. You may be a little more conscientious of this to yourself, but you got to admit that you have used it more than once.

I don't know why a full blown toxicology was not performed or why the obvious clues and questions mentioned by the previous writers to this were not followed up. But I do remember when a West Indian was found dead in somebody's front lawn there was an outrage by the community, and the media? whoa...it was like the Aruba incident !

I guess what I want to point out is the lack of attention by the Mainland U.S "Overseers" tends to let the sand box be run like nobody is looking. I watched all the serious Business owners and managers just go nuts because of it.

lovely place to live or visit. It is the last "available" gem that the U.S.A. has to offer in its near raw state.