A homicide victim has been identified 26 years after his body was found in Flagler County.

According to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, deputies found the man's body in the intracoastal waterway in Flagler Beach on Sept. 10, 1997.

Deputies determined the male had been bound, shot and stabbed multiple times before being dumped in the water.

"The male had been bound, shot and stabbed mutiple times," Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said.

The victim was unidentifiable until 2021, when his bones were submitted to Othram, a private forensic genetic genealogy corporation.

With the help of their genetic genealogy team, the victim was identified as Robert Bruce McPhail, who was 58 at the time of his death. He went by Bruce. 

The ID is a huge step, but the sheriff says there is much more work to be done.

You can read more at https://www.wesh.com/article/flagler-county-cold-case-robert-bruce-mcphail/44838951.