A chilling chapter from 1983 has finally reached its conclusion in Nassau County, Florida, as the Sheriff’s Office triumphantly closes the long-unsolved murder of Delbert “Lou” Luzader. This breakthrough stems from a pivotal confession unearthed within an old case file, shedding light on a mystery that has haunted the community for over forty years.
Detective Charity Rose, who spearheads Nassau County’s Cold Case Unit, has long been driven by a commitment to resolve such lingering mysteries. “The formation of a cold case unit was crucial to me because numerous cases remain shrouded in questions,” Rose expressed. “My mission is to relentlessly pursue answers, offering solace and closure to grieving families.”
The story of Luzader, who was 53 at the time of his disappearance, began on May 28, 1983, when he was last seen departing his residence in Duval County. Back then, Duval contained areas where alcohol sales were prohibited, known as dry counties.
“He ventured to Nassau County, specifically near Ratliff Road, to an establishment called Playbill’s liquor store,” Rose detailed. “That marked the final communication his family ever had with him.”
Luzader, 53, was last seen leaving his home in Duval County on May 28, 1983. At the time, parts of Duval were considered dry counties where alcohol couldn’t be sold.
“He came up to Nassau County right around the area of Ratliff Road to a place called Playbill’s liquor store,” Rose said. “That was the last time his family heard from him.”
Five months later, Luzader’s body was found off Crawford Road in Nassau County, “in the powerline area wrapped in bedding and sheets,” according to Rose.
But missing detective notes, deteriorated evidence, and the lack of digital records left investigators at a standstill for decades.
“I was unable to locate any of the original detective’s notes,” Rose said. “So I started looking into old newspaper articles, getting medical examiner’s reports, and putting in requests for any records from Duval County and even Georgia — just trying to build a file on what happened that day and what happened the day he was recovered.”
After working the case for nearly two years, Rose says the key break came from inside the original file.
“At the medical examiner’s office, I asked if I could actually see the original case file,” she said. “As I was scrolling through, I found an interview that was conducted in 1995 with the suspect, David Wyatt Jones.”
That interview turned out to be the long-missing link investigators had been searching for.
“In that interview, he admitted to being with Lou,” Rose said. “He said that he was strangled with his belt and that he took Luzader’s body and disposed of him off Crawford Road.”
Jones had made that confession while already incarcerated — on death row for another murder.
“He had been arrested in 1986 for the murder of a man named Jasper Highsmith,” Rose explained. “Then, in 1995, he was charged with the murder of Laurie McRae in Jacksonville. While incarcerated for that, he decided he wanted to come clean and tell them about the murder of Luzader.”
Jones later died in prison in 2016. In total, Rose says he was connected to three separate killings across North Florida.
“He looked for opportunity — he took their money and their vehicle,” she said. “In all three of those cases, he did that.”
Even with the case officially closed, Rose believes there could be more victims still unaccounted for.
“I was told he was constantly coming up to their house in different vehicles,” Rose said. “I feel like there might be some other cases out there that aren’t closed yet because they weren’t aware of him.”
The case also leaves one last mystery: Luzader’s missing truck — a 1973 Ford Ranger. According to interviews, Jones’ girlfriend told detectives they drove the truck to South Carolina after the murder and sold it.
“She said he told her that he had killed a man, hit him on the head, and buried the body,” Rose said. “They drove to South Carolina, sold it to an unknown individual, and that’s all we know. It could be sitting in someone’s backyard.”
Rose says the Luzader case shows how persistence — and a second look at old evidence — can bring long-awaited answers.
The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office is now urging anyone whose loved one went missing between 1975 and 1995 to contact investigators, as new breakthroughs could help solve other unsolved murders connected to Jones.
“Even though David Jones is deceased now,” Rose said, “there’s some type of accountability that he is the person responsible — and that’s the closure families deserve.”
