Man found dead wearing only swim trunks in 1981, CA cops say. Now he’s identified
A body found drifting in water more than four decades ago has been identified, but the mystery surrounding the man’s death remains, California deputies say.
With help from the “advancements in fingerprint technology,” the body found in Thornton on July 13, 1981, was identified as Edward Donald Raymond, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said in an April 14 Facebook post.
Deputies said they “responded to a report of a body floating in the water” in a rural area and found a man’s badly decomposed body in only “white swim shorts with red and blue stripes.”
The man also had “Black is Beautiful” tattooed on his left arm and a gunshot wound on his right shoulder, deputies said.
A few days before the body was found, a white or beige Cadillac was seen driving in the area, and the driver resembled Raymond, according to deputies.
However, neither a car nor other clothing were found at the scene, deputies said.
Raymond, who also went by the name Edward Wilson, was never reported missing, deputies said, adding that the only information they could find on him was a 1976 arrest in San Francisco when he gave an Oakland address.
He would have been 34 in 1981, deputies said.
Deputies said its cold case unit “strives to bring closure not only for the families left behind but also for the lives taken.”
“We are asking for any information that may help us better understand what happened to Edward Raymond and bring justice to this case,” deputies said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact deputies at 209-468-4400.
Thornton is about an 80-mile drive northeast from San Francisco.
This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 8:48 AM with the headline "Man found dead wearing only swim trunks in 1981, CA cops say. Now he’s identified."
