Hundreds interviewed by police, still no suspect 17 years after violent murder of Columbia homeless man
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Even with hundreds of witness statements, Columbia Police criminal investigator Lt. Matt Gremore says 17 years later that no clear suspect has been identified in the death of 49-year-old Mark Dailey.
"To this day, we have no idea who the suspect is or even what the motive was for the killing," Gremore said.
A hiker found Dailey's skeletal remains on Jan. 7, 2009, at a homeless encampment behind the Conley Road Walmart. From there police launched an investigation. Today, the area is much more developed, but Gremore says it's still common to see homeless camps present.
"You're exposed to all the elements," Reva Whisenhunt, the Peer Specialist for the Salvation Army Harbour House. "Trying to survive and being stuck in survival mode, they get into some crime, or they get mixed in with the wrong person, or they trust the wrong person, and then it ends up harming them."
Gremore was a noncommissioned officer at CPD when he took over the investigation of Dailey's death in 2020.
"The remains were found in an abandoned shed, obviously out in the woods," Gremore said.
Boone County court records show Dailey's address listed as "the streets of Columbia" in relation to two trespassing charges from 2007.
According to previous reporting, police in 2009 said no foul play was suspected at the start of the investigation. However, nearly three months later, on April 20, 2009, Dailey was identified and his death was ruled a homicide.
"I think it was always deemed suspicious," Gremore said. "I mean any time that you go to the death investigation, no matter what the circumstances, you have to think in your head 'this could be a homicide.'"
Mark Beary, who now works at MU's Research Reactor, helped to identify Dailey's remains in 2009 along with his cause and manner of death. At the time, he was a consulting forensic anthropologist with the Boone and Callaway County Medical Examiner's office.
"This individual had suffered blunt force trauma to the cranial area and the facial area of the cranium and additionally, sharp force trauma to the cervical vertebrae," Beary said.
Gremore said the DNA findings were significant for the time.
"That was like the forefront of the start of getting to see DNA work, especially at the Columbia Police Department," Gremore said. "I'd like to see it continue to where the DNA is who the suspect is, too."
Watch the latest "Mid-Missouri's Cold Case Files: The Case of Mark Dailey at 6 p.m. Thursday on ABC 17 News.
