Cold case breakthrough identifies 1988 Key Largo remains as Miami man

A set of human remains found off County Road 905 in north Key Largo on May 4, 1988, has finally been identified as Alfonso James Spikes, a 61-year-old Miami man whose disappearance had lingered as one of Monroe County’s oldest unresolved mysteries.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said major crimes detectives worked with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s Office to make the match using advanced DNA technology and genetic genealogy. What began as a cold case with no name now reconnects the remains to a real person, a Miami family, and a possible homicide investigation that has stayed open for decades.

Investigators said Spikes was last seen in April 1988, when he left his Miami residence to meet an unknown individual. When his body was found in north Key Largo, it had been covered in trash and wrapped in three sheets. His shirt had been pulled forward over his head, and investigators described the remains as being in advanced decomposition with partial skeletonization.

The Monroe County Medical Examiner ruled the cause and manner of death undetermined, though likely homicide. A sample was submitted to FDLE in December 2023, but no immediate lead emerged. Later DNA sequencing and genetic genealogy, used in June 2025, produced the match that was confirmed this March, closing one of the oldest unidentified-remains cases in the Florida Keys.

Sheriff Rick Ramsay thanked investigators with the Sheriff’s Office, FDLE and the medical examiner for helping bring closure to Spikes’ friends and family. He also stressed that the case remains open, and that anyone with information should contact Monroe County Major Crimes Detectives at 305-289-2410.

The identification is also part of a broader run of long-cold cases being solved in Monroe County through modern forensic science. It was the third positive identification of a decomposed individual using advanced genetic and DNA technology this year, following another Keys identification confirmed on Jan. 21, 2026, involving remains found after Hurricane Irma in 2017. FDLE also obtained funding through the State Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy Grant Fund on behalf of Monroe County partners, a sign that the expensive testing behind these breakthroughs is becoming more common in the Keys.