ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit has announced a major breakthrough in a decades-old homicide investigation. Detectives have identified the remains discovered in a shallow grave on Crescent Beach in April 1985 as belonging to Mary Alice Pultz of Rockville, Maryland.
Construction workers initially discovered the remains while digging for a beach walkover. Investigators determined the victim, a white female between 30 and 50 years old, had been the victim of a homicide. For nearly 40 years, her identity remained a mystery.
In 2011, forensic experts at the University of South Florida created a facial reconstruction in hopes of generating leads, but the case remained unsolved. In 2023, detectives partnered with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Othram, a Texas-based lab specializing in forensic genetic genealogy. DNA extracted from the remains led to possible relatives in North Carolina and Virginia.
By January 2024, DNA comparisons confirmed the victim as Mary Alice Pultz, born in 1943. Pultz was last seen by family in 1968 when she left with her boyfriend, John Thomas Fugitt, also known as Billy Joe Wallace. Fugitt was later sentenced to death in Georgia for a 1981 murder but died in prison before his execution.
Further forensic analysis revealed evidence of past trauma, including multiple healed fractures and surgical burr holes in Pultz’s skull, suggesting she had once undergone hospitalization for serious injuries.
St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick praised the detectives’ persistence, stating, “This investigation is a powerful example that we will never give up. The combination of highly skilled detectives and advanced DNA technology has given Mary Alice’s family some answers about her disappearance close to 40 years ago.”
Detectives continue to actively investigate Pultz’s death. Fugitt is considered a person of interest, though other possibilities remain open.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office at crimetips@sjso.org, or through Crime Stoppers at 1-888-277-TIPS (8477) or the Crime Stoppers App at p3intel.com.
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