The mystery of a missing mother of two who disappeared with her boyfriend in 1968 when she was just 25 years old has finally been solved after almost six decades.
Mary Alice Pultz, who grew up in Rockville, Maryland, had become estranged from her family after running away with John Thomas Fugitt, according to the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
The last time her family saw her alive was in 1968.
But last week, in a surprising turn of events, the sheriff’s office revealed that skeletal remains that had been discovered in Crescent Beach, Florida, in 1985 by construction workers had now been positively identified as Pultz.
An initial investigation determined that the remains belonged to a white woman between 30 and 50 years old, but the case went cold over the years and the remains remained unidentified until January of this year.
The chilling mystery of Mary Alice Pultz, who disappeared with her boyfriend in 1968, has finally been solved nearly six decades after she disappeared at age 25.
Pultz’s boyfriend, John Thomas Fugitt, has been named a person of interest in her death, but died in prison after being convicted of the 1981 murder of his roommate in Georgia.
Mary Pultz’s remains were examined by medical examiner Dr. Wendolyn Sneed, who discovered that she had suffered multiple injuries. She also had three surgical holes drilled in her skull.
In 2011, the victim’s skull and jaw were sent to the Institute of Forensic Anthropology and Applied Sciences at the University of South Florida, where experts created a facial reconstruction to see what he looked like.
The image provided detectives with some clues, but the case hit another dead end and remained unsolved.
That was until last year when the remains were sent to Othram, a laboratory in Texas that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy.
Thanks to the laboratory’s high-tech equipment, possible relatives of the victim were identified, the sheriff’s office explained.
Pultz’s living relatives, his son Norman Jenkins of Yuma, Arizona, and his sister Patricia Allamong of Winchester, Virginia, were found and agreed to submit to a DNA sample.
Sergeant Gene Tolbert made a trip to meet with those relatives and after taking more DNA samples and performing more tests, in January 2024 authorities were able to positively identify the remains.
Further examinations of the remains by medical examiner Dr. Wendolyn Sneed revealed that the victim had suffered a number of injuries including fractures to the nasal bones, multiple ribs and lower legs, some of which healed.
Three surgical holes were also drilled into the mother’s skull, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives investigating the case discovered, through conversations with her family, that the holes were likely drilled after she disappeared from her home in the late 1960s.
‘Dr. “Sneed cautioned that these injuries, in addition to the surgical perforations, are indicative of severe trauma that would have required hospitalization, such as being involved in a car accident or being hit by a vehicle,” the statement said.
Skeletal remains found in a shallow grave in Crescent Beach, Florida, in 1985, were positively identified as Pultz in January of this year.
The St Johns County Sheriff photographed on St Augustine Beach in 1985 when the remains were first discovered.
In 2011, the victim’s skull and jaw were sent to the Institute of Forensic Anthropology and Applied Sciences at the University of South Florida, where experts created a facial reconstruction to see what he looked like.
Details of how the mother died are still unclear, but her death is currently being investigated as a homicide and detectives have named her boyfriend Fugitt as a person of interest in the chilling case.
“Although a significant amount of time has passed, detectives are hopeful that the information developed thus far will result in a lead that will bring definitive closure to the family,” the sheriff’s office said.
Fugitt, who called himself Tommy, also had an alias: Billy Joe Wallace.
“We don’t know if Tommy had anything to do with Mary Alice’s appearance, but he’s certainly at the top of our list in terms of persons of interest,” Tolbert said in a Facebook video the sheriff’s office made about the case. . .
But officers learned he had been convicted of the 1981 murder of his roommate in Georgia.
He was sentenced to death in that case, but died in prison before he could be executed, according to the sheriff’s office.
It is unclear whether Pultz moved to Florida with Fugitt, as there were no addresses listed or jobs he may have held between 1968, when he left Maryland, and 1985, when his remains were discovered.
“This investigation is a powerful example that we will never give up,” St. Johns County Sheriff Rob Hardwick said in a news release.
“The combination of highly skilled detectives and advanced DNA technology has given Mary Alice’s family some answers about her disappearance almost 40 years ago.”
Pultz’s son, Norman, who was young when she left, said, “I just would like to know if anyone ever saw her or knew her.”