Investigators say genetic genealogy solved the oldest missing-person case in Ocoee.
CLERMONT, FL — Police in Central Florida say they have identified human remains found during park work in 2009 as Ernest Joe Manzanares, a 23-year-old reported missing from Ocoee in 1988 after leaving home one night and never coming back.
The identification ends decades of uncertainty for Manzanares’ family and revives questions investigators still cannot answer: how he died, who may have killed him, and where the red 1976 Chevrolet Monte Carlo he drove that night ended up. Detectives say the case, once considered cold, is now active again because new DNA technology produced a match and because renewed attention may bring forward information that did not surface years ago.
Manzanares was last seen July 28, 1988, in Ocoee, a city west of Orlando. Retired Ocoee Detective Michelle Grogan, who worked the case for years, said Manzanares had recently moved from Colorado to be closer to relatives and had stepped into what police described as a tense home life. Grogan said Manzanares left his mother’s home that night with his keys, leaving behind his wallet, and told his mother he would return later. She said he also had a dental appointment the next day. Police said he never showed up.
Investigators have described Manzanares as a family protector. Police have said his mother later told investigators he left to confront his father and an uncle after learning, she believed, they planned to sell two young girls in the family, ages 7 and 8, to a motorcycle gang. Police said the men had ties to a group associated with prostitution, drugs and other crimes, while Manzanares did not. Some relatives have disputed that account, saying he left for a different reason and that the most explosive claims have never been proven. Police have said they are treating the circumstances as suspicious but have not announced a suspect.
The first major break came more than two decades after Manzanares vanished. In July 2009, a City of Clermont work crew clearing thick overgrowth on newly acquired land intended for a future park found apparent human remains. That property is now known as Lake Hiawatha Preserve, a wooded area of trails and lakeside habitat about 20 miles west of Ocoee. Clermont police said investigators responded immediately, secured the site, and spent weeks searching. Officers maintained around-the-clock security, and detectives used custom-built sifting tools to recover small evidence, the department said.
Forensic specialists confirmed the remains were human and belonged to an adult male, according to police. Consultants from the University of Central Florida and the University of Florida assisted, along with a medical examiner’s office, investigators said. Despite early testing and continued reviews over the years, the remains could not be named at the time, and the investigation slipped into cold-case status. During those years, Manzanares remained listed in missing-person databases in Florida and nationally, and his family lived with uncertainty about whether he was alive or dead.
Clermont police said the case shifted in 2025, when the medical examiner’s office received approval for a genetic genealogy grant through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. With authorization from investigators, evidence was submitted for additional analysis. That work used advanced DNA testing and genealogical comparisons to identify relatives and then confirm a direct link to Manzanares, police said. Investigators said they were notified on Dec. 29, 2025, that the remains had been identified, and agencies in Clermont and Ocoee coordinated on next steps.
At a news conference on Feb. 13, police described the identification as a product of persistence, funding, and newer technology. Clermont Police Capt. Malcolm Draper, who supervises the department’s criminal investigations, said the case was never forgotten even after it grew cold. “Advances in forensic science, combined with the dedication of our investigative partners, produced answers that were not possible in 2009,” Draper said. Ocoee Police Chief Vincent Ogburn said the identification offers the family a chance to lay their loved one to rest and marks a turning point after years of questions.
Even with a name, major parts of the story remain unclear. Investigators have said it is not known how Manzanares ended up at the preserve site or what happened to him after he left home. Police have also said the car he drove that night has never been located. Investigators have noted that a spent bullet was found in the area during the 2009 scene work, a detail that has raised fresh questions about whether he was shot. Police have not publicly described a cause of death, and they have not said whether the remains showed clear signs of trauma.
The case also includes complications that time has made harder to untangle. Police have said Manzanares’ father and uncle are now deceased, and investigators have said they were not questioned in connection with the disappearance when it was first reported. Detectives said the passage of time can erase leads as people move, memories fade, and records become harder to find. Still, law enforcement officials said the DNA identification provides a clearer foundation than investigators had for years because it narrows the search to what happened after a specific date and points to a specific victim with a documented last known location.
For Manzanares’ daughter, the identification closes one chapter while opening another. Grogan said calling the daughter, Kristina Cree, brought mixed emotions after so many years. “She was grateful to finally have answers and to finally bring her father home,” Grogan said, adding that Cree had held onto hope that her father might return. Police did not describe where Manzanares will be buried or when, but they said relatives now have information that can help them make decisions that were impossible while he remained missing.
Police also stressed that identifying the remains does not solve the death. Clermont Police Chief John Graczyk said the department would continue applying advanced resources to pursue answers. Investigators said they hope the attention around the case will prompt someone with knowledge of the events surrounding Manzanares’ disappearance or the discovery site to speak up. Officials did not announce any arrests or charges and said they are still working to piece together the final movements that led from Ocoee to Clermont.
For now, police say the known timeline is both simple and unsettling: a young man left an Ocoee home in July 1988 expecting to return, and more than 20 years later, fragments of his remains were found on land that would become a public preserve. Detectives said the next milestone will be developing new leads from the renewed investigation and any information generated by the identification work.
Author note: Last updated February 13, 2026.