JACKSONVILLE – The Cold Case Advisory Commission met on Tuesday, May 20, to exchange and review information on unsolved crimes, including the murder of a man reported missing 39 years ago from Marion County.

Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook serves as the state chair for the commission. She said the role board that meets quarterly isn’t to solve crimes, but to provide and exchange resources and technology to agencies who need assistance in “unsolved homicides, missing persons or unidentified human remains, where homicide is suspected.”

Cook said a man was found dead in 1986 in St. Lucie County. He remained unidentified for 39 years and was listed simply as “Joe Doe.” Through DNA and other investigative tools the commission provided, authorities learned “Joe Doe” was Blaine Lewis Brown of Marion County.

Cook, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and State Attorney Melissa Nelson, representing Clay, Duval and Nassau counties for the Fourth Judicial District, answered questions when the commission took their lunch break. Cook also mentioned her agency’s four cold case investigations.

“The purpose of this commission is to provide technical and legal assistance to our sheriffs for unsolved homicides, missing persons or unidentified human remains, where homicide is suspected,” she said.

“The definition of a cold case is where investigative leads have been exhausted, the witnesses are still available, DNA and other evidence exists with a good chain of custody, and the case officers believe that there is solvability potential.”

Clay investigators said they are looking for some information about their four cold cases:

• Teryl Lynn Steele Orcutt. Her red Ford Thunderbird was found abandoned and still running on County Road 218 in Middleburg on Jan. 21, 1990. Deputies found her purse containing cash and credit cards, and a spilled soft drink was in the front seat. Her glasses were 50 feet from the car. According to CCSO, she left her boyfriend’s house in Jacksonville at 5 a.m. and was going to Middleburg to a house she shared with her mother. Two boys found her body off Lee Drive, near Black Creek, about four to five miles from her car a week later. She had been stabbed several times and was wearing only underwear, socks and shoes.
• Jennifer Leigh Medernach. The 14-year-old from Jacksonville was with friends, walking to a store on Nov. 4, 2001. She hadn’t returned home a day later, so the mother called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. On Nov. 8, her body was discovered in a creek off County Road 217 at Leona Padgett Road in Maxville. She had been stabbed to death. While there are several persons of interest, her death remains under active investigation. If you have any information, please call Det. Marvin Page at (904) 213-6760 or email mpage@claysheriff.com.
• Chelsea Rohn, 16, and Matthew Brumbaugh, 21. The couple was found shot to death by their roommate on Jean Court in Middleburg’s Greenwood subdivision on April 24, 2007, at 2:30 a.m. The house was known for parties and illegal drug use, but nobody heard shots. There were no signs of forced entry or activities on the night of the shooting. Chelsea had recently been separated from her husband, whom she married seven months earlier. If you have information, contact Mandy Calley at (904) 264-6512 or email mcalley@claysheriff.com.
• Mark Gregg. On April 18, 2009, the 54-year-old man was shot several times with his shotgun, CCSO said. An Armsel Striker 12-gauge shotgun was missing from his house, while a jewelry box had been rummaged. Anyone with information can call Det. Rodney M. Driggers at (904) 264-6512 or email rdriggers@claysheriff.com.

“The important thing is these families and reminding these families that we have not forgotten about them or advocating for these victims of violence,” Cook said. “These are victims of violence whose cases go unsolved. We don’t have two sheriffs and a state attorney up here talking about it, there’s a chance these lost voices could go unheard.”