Victim's Undocumented Status Complicates Search for Murderer

On the morning of August 16, 2004, a property owner in the rural woods of Walton County, Florida, noticed a large wake of buzzards circling high above his property. He knew that behavior usually indicated that they were assessing something dead or dying and were preparing to move in. When he went to check it out, he didn't find a dead deer or hog as he expected. It was a man who was later identified as Manuel M. Ruiz. And although his body was badly decomposed, it was his almost invisible presence in the community that would make this case even more difficult for the Walton County Sheriff's Office to solve.

Contact Information

• Walton County Sheriff's Office
• Call in an Anonymous Tip: (770) 267-6557
• Submit a Tip Online