ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – Forty-six years after he was killed, a St. Petersburg Police detective has identified a previously unknown homicide victim as 29-year-old Johnny Bradshaw of Tennessee.
Bradshaw and Jack Roy Davis were staying at the Siesta Motel on 34th Street in St. Petersburg in April 1980 when both men were shot in the head. Davis was identified shortly after the killings, but Bradshaw’s identity remained unknown for decades.
Detectives at the time identified suspects Kyle Watson and his girlfriend, David Ann Thomas. Before authorities could arrest them, Thomas shot and killed Watson after they returned to Knoxville, Tennessee. Thomas was later apprehended and served prison time as an accessory after the fact for driving the getaway car in the St. Petersburg double murder. She has since died.
Despite early investigative efforts, Bradshaw remained a John Doe. Detectives circulated an artist’s rendering and released a photograph of an Italian horn pendant he was wearing at the time of his death. In 2010, investigators exhumed Bradshaw’s body in an attempt to identify him, but were unsuccessful.
In 2023, Cold Case Detective Wallace Pavelski submitted new bone samples to Othram Labs, which successfully extracted a full DNA profile. Genealogical research over the following years led Pavelski to family members in Texas and California. Bradshaw’s two surviving sisters had been searching for him since 1980.
Police said Bradshaw’s identification marks the final unidentified individual on the St. Petersburg Police Department’s cold case list. Detectives credited advancements in forensic technology and years of investigative work for restoring his name and identity.
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