text: To start this off: This isn't a true story and the town is fictitious. I'm Detective Brad Markus and I'm a detective for the Florida Springs Police Department. We are a small Panhandle town in Florida, of course. It's called the forgotten coast of Florida. We like some tourism but not a lot. Florida Springs has a nice state Park which is Florida Springs State Park which for much of the year is deserted or at least it was back in 1981, especially in December. This was about 17 days before Christmas. I had the day off, so me and my wife Sandy decided to have a picnic lunch. The day wasn't cool it was around 75 degrees. We ate our lunch sitting on a large beach towel which had large starfishes on them. We watched the waves which were very light. The waves in the gulf are very light compared to the Atlantic. From a distance, I could see Old Man Wilson (this is what he liked to be called) sitting on his beach chair. Usually he would wave to me when I did patrols in the area or came to the beach and today was no exception. He would sit out there all day and sometimes into the evening. He would only leave and walk the short distance to his home when told to leave. His home was the only one on the beach (once he died the house would be torn down). Old Man Wilson was 80 years old and in good health, so I don't see that happening any time soon. He will live there until the day he dies. Beautiful home. Me and Sandy stayed till the sun went down. It was starting to get cold and the wind was blowing. It looks like a storm would be coming in and right as we got home, the storm hit. It rained for several hours. By midnight the storm was over and you could see the full moon. The next morning, the ranger called us and said that he had found a man in the surf face down with a bite mark on his neck. He had a bite on his torso. A capsized boat was seen drifting in the water nearby. This was about a mile from Old Man Wilson's beach house and technically in the jurisdiction of Florida Springs. It was decided that Florida Springs would take over the investigation. I went to Old Man Wilson's home. His hearing isn't that great and he usually doesn't wear his hearing aids. He wasn't of any help. The medical examiner called me and said that the man who was identified as 23 year old Mark Marsh was attacked by a shark, most likely from falling out of the boat. He also had been drinking and had been smoking weed. This guy had no family and no one claimed him which was very sad. Old Man Wilson felt sorry for him had paid to have a funeral and a resting place for the man. February 1982 This you would think would be the end of the story until I got a letter about two months later from someone who claimed that the death wasn't accidental. The letter told what happened but from the evidence that we have, we could neither prove not disprove. The anonymous writer said that they knew the identity of the killers but couldn't come forward.. What was odd is that the letter was sent to me from a post office in Austin Texas. Was this for real or was it a joke. I know that it wasn't Old Man Wilson who sent the letter because he doesn't have a typewriter and he's deceased. He died a couple of days into the new year. It's been two months since I've received the letter, but I haven't told anyone yet. I mentioned to our local press three months later that we needed additional information regarding the death of Mark Marsh and for someone to please call us. No one did and the case went cold. For some reason I kept this paperwork and took it with me when I retired. Not really supposed to do this but I did. June 2019 - nearly 40 years after Mark Marsh was found on the beach, I get a call from Debbie Wilson Youngman who is the granddaughter of Old Man Wilson. She has breast cancer and doesn't know how much longer she has to live. She has information about Mr. Marsh. She lives in Pensacola and is in a hospice center there. Let me give you some information about me. I became Chief of Police in 1987 and retired in 2013. This was after 40 years of law enforcement service. I started out at age 18 in 1973 at a officer for the city and by 1978 I was detective. A lot has changed in Florida Springs. In 1973 it was about 1,500 people and by 2019 it's about 6,000 people. More hotels and condos. They put the condos across the street from the beach. Some of it, I don't like. Sadly shortly after Old Man Wilson died, someone kids vandalized the place and then one of them who was smoking threw the cigarette butt on the floor and the house was destroyed by fire. So, I'm on my way to see Debbie Youngman. Will be interesting to see what she has to say. &#x200B; December 1981 Old Man Wilson was surprised to see his granddaughter Debbie Wilson arrived a day early. He had just came back from the beach. Debbie brought some food and made dinner. Debbie was tired. She had flew in from Pensacola and had taken the taxi to the beach house which was 40 miles. They decided to turn it early. The storms on the beach sometimes unnerved Debbie but Old Man Wilson it didn't bother. By midnight it was gone and a full moon was out. Debra couldn't sleep and went out for a walk. It was 3:00 am. She loved doing this as everything was so quiet. As she came closer to the house, she noticed a group of men hanging around. She hid herself where she could see them but they couldn't see her. "He doesn't know that we are here. " said one man. "Hey, let's go in and rob the place." said another man. Dogs could be heard in the house barking up a storm. "Don't think so. The Old man has nothing to rob. Leave the man alone. Come on let's get out of here."said a third man. Two of the men Debbie didn't recognize but the third one she did. She watched as they left her grandfather's house and walked down the beach. She went along a trail where she wouldn't be seen. She was careful not to make any noise. She saw a man with a boat that was waiting for them. She saw them overpower the man, tied him up and put him in a boat that sped away. She was afraid to go back to the house. In the distance, she could hear screams and then nothing. A short time later, she then saw the men make the boat capsize and then placed the man next to it. They then left by boat. She ran back to the house. Her grandfather was asleep and never knew she had left. "I know I should have called the police, but I was in shock and was too scared. Ranger Burns found the body a couple of hours later. He came to my grandfather's place and I hid.. My grandfather his memory was very bad forgot that I was there. He didn't of course see anything. I was nervous the whole time I was there. Debbie took a sip of water and then continued. "The next day two of the men that I didn't know. came around. I was at the house when I saw them approached grandpa and asked him about Mark Marsh. They didn't see me as I was in the house. I watched very nervously. Ranger Burns walked up to them and asked if they had seen anything. They hadn't of course but I knew they were lying. They quickly left. I never saw them again, although from time to time Mickie Larange would show up in the panhandle but not here. His grandparents have a beach house in community of St. Joe 40 miles away from Florida Springs. He came during the summer. Both his parents and grandparents thought he was a special person who could do no wrong. I knew who Mickie Larange was. Bad news and a bad person. He was a rock star that was adored nationwide and worldwide. If they only knew, but they didn't and even if they did, well........ "He had people who covered for him big time from the time he was a child till today. He got away with a lot of things, because they weren't violent in nature. Stole things from stores. Wrote bad checks. Tried to get away with not paying restaurant and motel bills. Took a car for a joy ride when he was a teen and got into an accident, totaling the car. Daddy paid the man whose car he wrecked. Broke young girls's and women's hearts. Doesn't pay child support unless he's force to You get the picture. I knew who he was and what he looked like and his reputation but never had any interaction with him, thankfully. " I nodded. I never had to deal with Mickie Larange as he didn't come around Florida Springs and the State Park but I'd heard about him from other law enforcement agencies that came in contact with him. He was never arrested until two years ago when police arrested him in California for failing to pay child support. My wife remembers how angry he was and how he treated two of his ex-wives. He called one of them a liar and something else I can't repeat and then he spit in the face of the other ex-wife. When his own children said he was a jerk, he said that they were spoiled brats. My wife likes to watch all that on TMZ. Not me, have no interest in it." "I was the one who wrote the letter back in 1982. I had to tell someone. I never told anyone about this." We talked a little bit more and then I left. Sadly there isn't much I can do. A couple of weeks later I get a call from one of the men who was there, former body guard. Like Debbie, he's very ill and doesn't have long to live. The third man died 20 years earlier in Prison. He was another body guard. Two months later Mickie Larange is arrested in California and he denies everything. Later he is put on trial in Pensacola Florida. He tries to blame the other two men saying that they threatened to kill him if he didn't go along with them. It was clearly proven that he was the mastermind behind the crime. The reason was because Mark Marsh was going to write a book about him, detailing what he had done. He couldn't have that and he took action. The jury convicted him. Even though he's in jail he still gets letters, gifts and money from adoring fans. A sad footnote to this story. Shortly after Mickie Larange was convicted, Debbie Youngman passed away and so did the bodyguard. &#x200B; &#x200B; .