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TAMPA — A curious dispatcher uncovered information that helped identify a homicide victim more than 12 years after his death, police said.
Chad Everette Griffith was killed Nov. 9, 1998, during a robbery involving cocaine at 9508 N 13th St. He was shot in the back of the head and the bullet went through his forehead, records show. Griffith, then 20, was from Marion, Ohio.
But until Friday, he was known only as "John Doe."
In 1998, Samuel Hewitt was charged in the killing and later convicted at age 14. Robert Hewitt, then 16, was convicted of tampering with evidence, police said.
Griffith's mother had reported him missing two years after his death and again in 2006.
Matt Cole, a dispatcher for eight years with the police department in Marion, was working his usual 11 p.m. shift this month when he found the Doe Network, a database of unidentified victims and missing persons.
He found descriptions of the victim that pointed to Griffith, including a heart tattoo on his left hand. Cole gave the information to the police department's Detective Ben Graff.
"He goes above and beyond frequently," Graff said of Cole. "He really is an extraordinary dispatcher. He's very smart. He does whatever he can to help."
Graff called the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office and Tampa police.
Two medical examiners in Tampa determined that fingerprints from Marion matched those on file in Tampa. The tattoo matched John Doe's.
Then it was time to call Griffith's mother, Brenda Bautista, who was living in Winter Haven, to let her know.
"She had her suspicions, but she just didn't know the fate of her son," Graff said. "And once she learned, it naturally hurt her, but at the same time she was relieved she could have some closure."
It's not clear why Griffith was in Tampa. He may have come to be around his mom, Graff said, but that is speculation.
Cole, who could not be reached for comment, wants to be a detective, Graff said. He heard about the case in a class.
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