FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. – The man whose naked body washed ashore on Flagler Beach in June has been identified as a 64-year-old Delaware man who had moved to St. Augustine in March.
According to Flagler Beach police, the body found about 11 p.m. June 8 in the surf about 100 yards north of the North 13th Street walkover has been identified as Robert Schmitt.
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The St. Johns County Medical Examiner had ruled the death a homicide by gunshot wound, but did not release details of where or how many times the man had been shot. The Flagler County Sheriff's Office said there also appeared to have been trauma to the man's head.
Investigators initially thought the body might have been in the water for several days but later determined he was dead before he was put in the water.
Flagler Beach Police Detective Liz Williams said Schmitt arrived in St. Augustine in an older model, possibly 1983, white Volvo station wagon. The car was not registered to him and has not been found.
"Rob was known to fish around the Matanzas Inlet and was known to frequent the area of downtown St. Augustine on foot and may have appeared to be homeless," Williams said Tuesday in a written statement.
"He was very intelligent," she wrote to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, noting he had a law degree. "He was also very quirky. He would have known where resources, like a soup kitchen, were available. I don't think he would have eaten from a trash can."
Williams said she was aware that Schmitt had several siblings, but none lived in the area and he wasn't in regular touch with any of them.
"He wasn't really close with any of them, but his absenteeism was noticed," Williams said when Schmitt missed a major family event.
Investigators are asking people to come forward with information about Schmitt's activities and who he was with before being found dead.
Anyone with information is asked to call Flagler Beach police at 386-517-2039.