Deputies: Body found believed to be missing man

Person of interest also named in disappearance of 46-year-old Interlachen man

Floyd Andy Parrish, 46, has been missing from Putnam County since Jan. 2.

INTERLACHEN, Fla. – Authorities have recovered a body they believe to be a 46-year-old Interlachen man, who has been missing since Friday.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Scene Unit found remains they believe to be Floyd Anderson "Andy" Parrish buried in a wooded area in an isolated part of Marion County.

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The remains were sent to the Leesburg Medical Examiner's Office for positive identification and to determine a cause of death.

Deputies said the discovery of the body was made possible from information received from the ongoing investigation into Parrish's disappearance, which is being investigated as a homicide.

On Wednesday, deputies identified a person of interest in the case.

Richard Gertler, 52, was arrested Wednesday and charged with grand theft auto and armed burglary. Both are felonies. The Sheriff's Office said Gertler is also considered a person of interest in the Parrish's disappearance.

According to deputies, Gertler came to the Sheriff's Office voluntarily Wednesday to be interviewed in connection with Parrish's disappearance. He told detectives he met Parrish about 7 p.m. Friday night at Parrish's home in Interlachen and paid more than $12,000 for some of Parrish's guns. Parrish's brother told police he has a large collection of firearms. 

Putnam County Sheriff's Office booking photo of Richard Gertler

Gertler (pictured) said he then got into Parrish's gray Ford Explorer and drove off. He said the SUV was blocking his own car.

Gertler told deputies he called a friend of his in Marion County, Jordan Sweet, asking him to meet him at Parrish's home. Once there, Sweet followed Gertler to the Whitehouse area of Jacksonville, where they left Parrish's SUV, still with his suitcases inside.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said Parrish's gray Ford Explorer was recovered around 1 a.m. Saturday in the Whitehouse area near U.S. 301. The car was reported as a suspicious vehicle by a resident on Clifford Thomas Lane off U.S. 90.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office also interviewed Sweet. Neither man said anything about Parrish's whereabouts.

Gertler is being held without bond on the two charges.

Parrish's family lives in Athens, Georgia, and according to a missing persons report filed with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, Parrish left Athens on Friday about 10:30 a.m. to return home to Interlachen and called his brother just before 6 p.m. to tell him he was in Gainesville, Florida.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office has taken the lead in the case, and Putnam County detectives removed boxes of evidence from Parrish's home on Lakeview Court on Wednesday.

Parrish is described as a white man, about 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 170 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a black motorcycle jacket, blue jeans and black tactical boots.

If anyone has any information concerning Parrish or his whereabouts, please contact the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 386-329-0801.