The skeletal remains found on a beach in St. Augustine, Florida almost four decades ago have finally been identified as those of a mother-of-two who went missing in the late 1960s.
Mary Alice Pultz, a native of Rockville, Maryland, embarked on a journey with John Thomas Fugitt at the age of 25 in 1968, which ultimately led to her estrangement from her family. According to the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office, this marked the final occasion her family laid eyes on her.
The sheriff’s office made an announcement last week, confirming the identification of the remains found in a shallow grave on Crescent Beach, Florida in 1985 as Pultz.
The exact circumstances surrounding Pultz’s death are still unclear, but investigators are treating it as a homicide. Detectives have identified Fugitt as a person of interest in the ongoing investigation.
Fugitt, also known as Billy Joe Wallace, was found guilty of the 1981 murder of his male roommate in Georgia. He received a death sentence for this crime but passed away in prison before the execution could take place, as reported by the sheriff’s office.
St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick expressed his determination and satisfaction with the investigation, stating, “We will never give up.” He emphasized the significance of the case as it sheds light on the disappearance of Mary Alice, nearly four decades ago. The collaboration between our proficient detectives and cutting-edge DNA technology has provided the family with long-awaited answers.
The case gradually lost momentum as time passed, and the victim’s identity remained a mystery.
Despite generating a few leads, the image did not provide any definitive answers.
In 2023, detectives from the sheriff’s office collaborated with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to send the remains to a private lab in Texas. At the lab, DNA was extracted and a DNA profile was created.
Pultz’s living relatives, including her son Norman Jenkins of Yuma, Arizona, and her sister Patricia Allamong of Winchester, Virginia, willingly provided DNA samples for comparison with the profile.
In January 2024, the detectives received confirmation of a match, and they were able to positively identify the victim as Pultz.
During interviews with the family, detectives uncovered that the burr holes were most likely performed after she vanished from their lives in 1968.
According to the release, Dr. Sneed stated that these injuries, along with the surgical burr holes, suggest a significant trauma that would have necessitated hospitalization, such as being involved in a vehicular accident or being hit by a vehicle.
Pultz’s relocation to Florida with Fugitt remains uncertain, as there is no documentation of her address or employment history during the period from 1968, when she left Maryland, to 1985, when her remains were discovered.
Although Fugitt is being investigated as a potential suspect in the death, detectives emphasize that they are keeping all other possibilities open.
The detectives expressed their hope that the information gathered thus far would lead to a breakthrough, providing the family with the closure they seek.
Norman Jenkins, the son of Pultz, who was quite young when she departed, expressed his desire to find out if there was anyone who had seen or known his mother.
