Florida Keys

Keys body belongs to man who has crashed cars and stripped naked

 

KeysNet.com

A body found floating off Ballast Key off Key West three weeks ago is that of a missing Concord, Mass., man, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Erik Jenkinson, 28, was identified when detectives were able to match fingerprints taken from the body with fingerprints from arrest records from Allentown, Pa.

Jenkinson’s body was found floating Sept. 3.

Three days earlier, on Aug. 31, Sgt. Tom Walker took a report of a pickup truck found burned on Calle Dos on Rockland Key. The truck appeared to have crashed into a wooded area, and the fire destroyed all identifying markers, says sheriff’s spokeswoman Becky Herrin.

Alex’s Towing towed it, and staff there found a partially burned piece of the truck’s registration and sent a letter to the address on the paperwork. When Jenkinson’s family got the letter, they called the sheriff’s office to find out more.

Herrin said the family said their son had been missing for a few weeks. They said he had a medical condition and would sometimes take long trips but was supposed to be in Massachusetts for a family activity and had not shown up.

They described their son to Detective Manny Cuervo, who noted similarities with the body. Cuervo is still trying to find out how Jenkinson ended up in the water. An autopsy showed no signs of foul play.

Jenkinson had a history of strange behavior.

According to the Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Express-Times, he was arrested last November in Upper Macungie Township, Pa., after crashing his car, then stripping down and standing atop a concrete median on Interstate 78.

The newspaper said Jenkinson lost control of his Toyota Corolla and caused a three-car crash. He then got out of the car, stripped, climbed up the median, and ran off being before caught.

He was charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance, resisting arrest, lewdness, and causing an accident involving damage to property. The outcome of those charges wasn’t immediately available.

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