Marion County Sheriff Tim Bailey hopes that a clay model of the head of an unidentified man found dead in a creek 27 years ago will bring tips that help solve a homicide.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation released an image of the model of the man found in Flat Rock Creek near the Marion-Morrow county line in July 1989.

The badly decomposed body was found about 50 yards downstream from a bridge from which investigators think it might have been tossed. The body was in the creek for up to six weeks before children playing nearby saw a foot in the water.

"Believe it or not, there are people that go missing, and no one reports them missing," said Bailey, then a chief deputy in the sheriff's office.

The victim is believed to have been white and is estimated to have been 22 to 35 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall and about 160 pounds. He had dark, parted hair, elongated features and a down-turned mouth, according to BCI and the sheriff's department. All four wisdom teeth had been removed, but all his other teeth were intact. His appendix had been removed.

The body was clad in blue jeans, tennis shoes, a flannel shirt and a sweater, which, because of the warm weather at the time, Bailey thinks could indicate that the man was homeless.

Bailey would not say how the victim died, saying that such detail could implicate or eliminate a suspect.

Local departments have sought BCI's help with 1,942 unsolved homicides, and 90 of those involve unidentified victims, said Jill Del Greco, BCI spokeswoman.

BCI's forensic artist, Samantha Molnar, worked with Bailey last year to create a model of a woman that Ashland serial-killer suspect Shawn Grate claims to have killed 10 years ago. When Bailey mentioned his only other unsolved homicide case with an unidentified victim, she agreed to create another model.

The release of the image Wednesday already has produced one tip.

"We've revisited this case many times," said Bailey. "It's not like we pulled it off the shelf after 27 years.

"Once we know who he is," Bailey said, "we can start tracing back steps and figure out where he was and what happened and maybe solve a murder case."

Anyone with information on the victim or homicide case can call the Marion County sheriff's office at 740-382-8244, Ext. 5120.

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