Authorities seek help in 3-year-old disappearance/death

Mary Thomas was last seen on Feb. 12, 2009 at the Starlight Restaurant in Port St. Joe.

Seven days later, her family, concerned of a week without contact became alarmed.

Thomas’ smiling presence and open heart were well known in the neighborhood along the alphabet avenues. It was completely unlike her not to be in contact with family and friends – and those who knew Mary Thomas would attest that by blood or not, most she encountered were family.

For several weeks after contacting the Gulf County Sheriff’s Office, the family distributed and posted posters with her smiling face, urging anyone with knowledge of her possible whereabouts to contact the family or authorities.

On a sunny, but oh so grim March 3, 2009, Mary Thomas’ body was found, within shouting distance of her home. She was not clothed, was wrapped in plastic sheeting and left in the woods roughly 40 yards from the paving of Avenue A.

Authorities are asking again – anybody with any knowledge of how Mary Thomas met her demise and was discarded as no human should be on the side of the road to please come forward.

“We’ve been to A to Z and back and talked to everybody,” said Sheriff Joe Nugent. “We believe there is somebody in the community who holds the key to this.”

Nugent said investigators had honed in two suspects early on. They remain suspects.

“There are no people of interest here, these are suspects,” Nugent said.

The two have been interviewed and been less than forthcoming, Nugent said.

The case has gone cold. And with the third-year anniversary of Thomas’ death approaching, Nugent is trying to apply some heat.

The family, he noted, are deeply frustrated by the lack of progress in the case. That was evident last year during a sentencing in a bank robbery case that involved a young man related to Thomas and her sister.

After the sentencing the sister publicly expressed her deep disappointment with losing a young man to prison while those responsible for the callous way her sister died and was disposed of remained at large, directing a loud complaint toward Nugent in the courtroom.

This week, Nugent said someone in the community knows how Mary Thomas came to be in those woods, alone, wrapped in plastic and it is time for that person to come forward and provide “the family some closure.”

Anybody with any information pertaining to the disappearance and death of Mary Thomas is encouraged to call Crimestoppers at 785-TIPS, the Gulf County Sheriff’s Office at 227-1115 or the Port St. Joe Police Department at 227-1414.

“We just that one piece of evidence to solve this,” Nugent said, adding that any tipster will remain anonymous.

They just need the tip, Nugent said.