“We are happy that we are able to provide the family some answers and some closure as to what happened with their loved one,” Michael Walek, deputy chief for Clearwater police, said in a statement.

After being called “Pinellas County John Doe 1993” for the past 31 years, a man whose body was found floating near a bridge in Florida has been identified, police said.

The Clearwater Police Department announced on Monday, June 2, that the deceased man who was discovered near the Clearwater Pass bridge on Nov. 29, 1993, is Edman Eric Gleed, who was 84 at the time of his death and reported missing by his son in Fairfax County, Virginia.

When Gleed’s body was initially found near the east side of the bridge leading to Sand Key, a neatly folded pile of clothing was discovered on the shoreline near a lifeguard stand on Clearwater Beach, police said, adding that an ID was not found on the clothing or with the body.

At the time, an autopsy of Gleed’s body was inconclusive; thus, the manner and cause of death weren’t determined, but foul play was not suspected, police said. The medical examiner’s office did find that the victim was a white male between the ages of 60 and 80, 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed 118 pounds, with short gray hair and blue eyes, according to the department.

How was Edman Gleed identified?

To identify the remains, more than three decades later, Clearwater police detectives worked with the medical examiner’s office and Moxxy Forensic Investigations, a nonprofit that provides investigative genetic genealogy services to law enforcement. Additional samples of Gleed’s DNA were submitted for testing in concert with investigative genetic genealogy, police said.

Kaycee Connelly, the Moxxy team lead for the case, said they found DNA matches that were “either living in or recent immigrants from England, which was quite unexpected for a person found in Pinellas County, Florida.”

“Our team of volunteer genealogists uncovered numerous ancestors from various parts of England, stretching back to the mid-1700s, to connect the DNA matches with one another,” Connelly said. “Because of recent immigration and the estimated age range of the man at the time of his death, we were looking for very distant connections.”

The Moxxy team did eventually find a possible identity for the man, but to confirm, they found his next of kin, who happened to be his son, and collected a buccal swab, police said. The swab was compared to the profile of the unidentified man, which determined the two had a parent-child relationship, according to the department.

‘We are happy that we are able to provide the family some answers’

Once the relationship was established, police officially identified the body as belonging to Gleed. Police spoke with the man’s son, who is 94 and lives in North Carolina, on Monday, June 2.

“We are happy that we are able to provide the family some answers and some closure as to what happened with their loved one,” Michael Walek, deputy chief for Clearwater police, said in a statement.

Ed Adams, the Moxxy team assistant for the case, said this situation has “been close to the hearts of everyone on the team.”

“We are all honored to have played a part in returning Edman Gleed to his family,” Adams added.

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Conditions are favorable for flooding to occur until 8 a.m., on Wednesday in South Florida.

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Widespread steady rain is possible during the morning commute in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

“When it is raining really hard, and it is like pouring, we have to be stuck in the rain waiting for the bus,” Sarah Paguada, of Miami, said.

The rain will gradually diminish due to a plume of Saharan Dust that will be filtering in from the south.

The highs will moderately warm into the mid-80s on Wednesday and the 90s are set to return Friday.

CLICK HERE for the latest updates from Local 10’s Weather Authority.

The NCAA Baseball Tournament got underway this past weekend with regional play, including the Florida Gators playing in the Conway Regional at Coastal Carolina University.

Tempers were flaring at Coastal Carolina on Sunday after Florida’s game against East Carolina was delayed in order to get the field ready. Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan was caught on camera yelling profanities at tournament officials and members of Coastal Carolina’s staff.

Needless to say, Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall did not appreciate the outburst by O’Sullivan.

“I believe in standing up for what’s right, and what transpired this morning, on our field, another coach disrespected our Associate AD, who works as hard as anybody in our entire program. He disrespected our field crew, who are the salt of the Earth. These guys would do anything for our program,” Schnall said.

“It’s not OK. And this needs to be brought up. Absolutely disrespectful. As a coach it’s our job to mentor young kids. And the way he treated the two site reps, the way he treated our Associate AD, the way he treated our field crew, was absolutely unacceptable.”

As you can see, Kevin Schnall was not happy with what transpired, and he didn’t stop there.

“This is a national champion coach who thinks he can come in here and try to bully people around. Disappointed,” Schnall said. “Disappointed in somebody that a lot of coaches look up to.

“For him to act that way, really disappointed. He disrespected a Hall of Fame coach who’s the site rep here.”

The comments from Schnall came after his Coastal Carolina team beat ECU in the regional final to advance to the super regionals this coming weekend.

The Chanticleers will face Auburn in a best-of-three series this weekend, with the winner advancing to the College World Series.

As for Kevin O’Sullivan, he did issue an apology for his actions on Monday.

“Prior to yesterday’s NCAA Tournament game against East Carolina, I let my emotions get the best of me and channeled that energy in a way I should not have. I want to sincerely apologize for my actions and behavior to the entire NCAA Regional field of Coastal Carolina, East Carolina and Fairfield — the NCAA, including site representatives Rick French and Mark Scalf — as well as all of Gator Nation,” O’Sullivan said.

“I did not represent the University of Florida to the appropriate standard yesterday and take full responsibility for that, and promise to learn from this experience and be better moving forward.

“I appreciate all of the tireless efforts on behalf of Coastal Carolina, their tournament director Bryan Stiles, and the NCAA over the course of NCAA Regionals, and am sorry for allowing this instance to get in the way of an otherwise great weekend of postseason baseball.”

Florida Athletics Director Scott Stricklin also issued a statement about the incident.

“This afternoon I met with Kevin O’Sullivan and told him that his actions prior to yesterday’s NCAA Tournament game fell well short of expectations of how Gators treat people,” Stricklin said. “One of our department’s core values is respect, and coach O’Sullivan’s unacceptable actions failed to demonstrate that.

“On behalf of Florida Athletics, I want to personally apologize to everyone impacted — including NCAA representatives, Coastal Carolina and their staff, East Carolina and their team — as well as to Gator Nation.”