Decades-Old Mystery Solved: Bay County Sheriff Identifies 1977 Cold Case Victim Carol Sue Skidmore

BAY COUNTY, FL - Sheriff Tommy Ford announced on June 27, 2025, that the work of the Bay County Sheriff Office Cold Case and Crime Scene Units have identified human remains found decades ago in Bay County.

In 1980, the skeletal remains of a woman were located in a shallow grave by three hunters about a half mile west of Hwy. 231, north of Fountain. Initially, BCSO investigators thought the remains might be those of JoAnn Benner whose 1976 missing person case remained unsolved. Benner’s body had not been located, and foul play was suspected. The remains were sent to the FSU Anthropology lab and examined. Benner was ruled out as she had had injuries that these remains did not have. Despite the best efforts of the team at FSU, who the woman had been remained a mystery. Because of damage done to the clothing found with the skeletal remains, foul play was suspected.

The BCSO Cold Case Unit is comprised of retired BCSO investigators and some active employees. While reviewing the JoAnn Benner case and reading about the mysterious skeletal remains, the investigators teamed with the Crime Scene Unit to use technology unknown in 1980 to identify the mystery woman.

A tooth was obtained from the remains and submitted to The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for a DNA profile. This profile was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Two hits, or matches, were located. Two people in Texas had previously submitted DNA because they had a sister that had been reported missing. Once there was a match identified, the Center for Human Identification conducted a kinship analysis to determine if the remains were those of a family member to the two siblings and issued a final report. The mystery woman was indeed their sister Carol Sue Skidmore, missing since 1977.

The tragic last few months of the Skidmore family began in March of 1977. Carol Skidmore, her husband James Ronald Skidmore, and her 5-year-old son Lynn Dale Mahaffy left their home in Sealy, Texas to visit James’ parents in Rossville, Georgia. They wanted to “put their marriage back together”. They left on March 29, 1977, and were last heard of on April 9, 1977, when Carol contacted her parents and told them she wasn’t sure when they would be back.

In May of 1977, a child’s body was found in Parksville Lake in Tennessee, a victim of homicide. The body, wrapped in plastic and weighed down, appeared to have been in place for a few weeks. Carol Skidmore’s son, Lynn Dale Mahaffy, was one of the possible identifications of the body. Identification was confirmed by the FBI in June of 1977.

On June 1, 1977, Carol’s husband James was found dead in a hotel room in Harrison, Arkansas due to a drug overdose/suicide. A suicide note was found with his body stating, “things weren’t working out for him.” Authorities searched for his wife Carol Skidmore with no success. She was listed as missing.

Investigators believe that James Ronald Skidmore killed Carol Skidmore, burying her body in a shallow grave in Bay County, and her son, Lynn, leaving his body in a lake in Tennessee, and then himself.

The family of Carol Skidmore has been contacted. One of her siblings had passed away, but her brother was grateful to get word about his sister, to finally know what happened to her and experience closure.

“We will never stop seeking justice for victims of crime, no matter how much time may have passed,” said Sheriff Tommy Ford. “I am so proud of our Cold Case and Crime Scene Units for their determination to find the truth and bring closure to this family.”

The BCSO Cold Case Unit and Crime Scene Unit are currently using ancestral DNA to identify several sets of human remains found in Bay County. The JoAnn Benner case has progressed and has been turned over to the State Attorney’s Office by the Cold Case Unit for review and potential prosecution.