PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A family finally has some closure more than 40 years after their loved one went missing leaving the Tampa Bay area, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said.
On Oct. 28, 1980, then-29-year-old Ronald Gilchrist left a home on Bonner Avenue near 69th Way N in Clearwater. His destination — Miami. He was set to pick up his in-laws on Nov. 3 at the Miami International Airport and then take them to Marco Island.
Gilchrist climbed into this 1977 Ford 4-door car and started on his journey. Detectives said on Oct. 29 Gilchrist called a family member from a restaurant payphone in Mulberry.
That was the last communication he had with his family. He never arrived at the airport and has been missing ever since.
Detectives said they got photos of Gilchrist from 1980 and sent them to investigators at the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office.
Miami police reportedly investigated a homicide in November 1980 involving a John Doe. That unidentified man, detectives would later learn, matched a similar description of Gilchrist.
On June 7, 2023, detectives received word from the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office that it had formally identified Joe Doe as Gilchrist.
His death is still being investigated as a homicide by the Miami-Dade Police Department.