The 1974 homicide of 24-year-old James Norris in Dixie County remains unsolved nearly 50 years later, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is asking for help to crack the cold case.
Norris’ murder is believed to be one of the oldest active homicide cases in Florida and is Dixie County’s oldest case.
The remains were unidentified for another 35 years until an FDLE special agent recognized that DNA testing advances might help identify the homicide victim. In 2010, the University of North Texas, where the remains were sent for testing, was able to obtain a DNA profile, but it was not enough to enter into CODIS.Norris was listed in the NamUS website’s Missing Persons section as missing in Florida approximately 18 months and 100 miles from where the skeletal remains were discovered.
According to investigators, on the morning of Oct. 4, 1974, Norris, who lived in San Francisco, arrived on a commercial flight to Miami. He was traveling under the alias Richard Gunning. On the afternoon of Oct. 4, 1974, Norris mailed a postcard to his family from Inglis, Florida, in Levy County on the border with Citrus County. That was the last contact his family had with him.
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