Article content

It was a darkly whimsical touch.

The man with his head bashed in and burned beyond recognition lying dead in a small wooded area near a Michigan blueberry field needed more than whimsy.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or CRIME HUNTER: Puzzling Michigan cold case finally solved Back to video

But whimsy it was and detectives skipped the usual John Doe and tagged the corpse Jack in the Box for a bit of personality.

Almost from the moment in May 2002, when the battered corpse was discovered by a farmer, cops were up against the wall.

The crime scene was a long ways from the mean streets of Detroit. It was discovered in pastoral Ottawa County in western Michigan.

What was left of the man was located in a metal foot locker that had been torched.

There was no ID, no match to local or state missing persons reports.

But from the beginning, detectives believed the unfortunate departed had been murdered elsewhere and dumped.

The ruling was homicide due to blunt force trauma.

And then, a first-class, one-way ticket to Nowheresville. Without a name, cops were unlikely to get far catching a killer.