VCSO identifies 1986 cold case homicide victim found near Ormond Beach

Ormond Beach Observer
News

Thanks to DNA matches, Volusia County Sheriff's Office has identified two victims of two separate homicides in Volusia County, one of which was found near Ormond Beach in 1986.

That victim was Howard "Kip" Evans, whose skeletal remains were discovered on Jan. 18, 1986 off Pumphouse Road near Jones Island Road, VCSO said in a press release. His remains had been there for an "undetermined amount of time," and forensic examination of the remains revealed violent trauma. The death was determined to be a homicide, VCSO reported, but Evans' identity was unknown at the time, and he was listed as "John Doe 1986."

DNA was obtained from Evans' remains between 2006 and 2011, and sent to laboratories, but no matches were obtained. Later in 2014, the Florida Institute of Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science at the University of South Florida generated facial reconstruction models, the press release states.

It wasn't until 2019 when VCSO's major case unit received information in a social media post found in a Missing Persons group. The post stated that Evans had been missing since 1984 and was last known to be in Volusia County. He was around 29 years old, VCSO reported.

A composite sketch based on Evans remains was done in 2014 by the Florida Institute of Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science at the University of South Florida. Courtesy photo

No formal missing person's report was ever generated, and Evans' family legally declared him dead in 1990. Detectives contacted his mother in South Carolina and obtained a DNA sample, and a match was found due to analysis by the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification and FBI.

VCSO reported the Medical Examiner's Office is working with the family to release Evans remains.

The second cold case victim identified was that of Doris Regina Chavers, whose remains were found by two fishermen in Osteen in 1991. She had been reported missing to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office in 1990, a year after she was last seen alive. Her death was also ruled a homicide, and this