CLARKDALE -- Family members on Friday identified an unknown man found June 25 in Clarkdale as 49-year-old James Inocencio from Midlothian, Texas.
Volunteers from an out-of-state group who help in missing person cases contacted Yavapai Sheriff's office detectives after they found a missing report in Texas that closely described the unidentified man found in Clarkdale.
The missing man's family spoke with him at the Verde Valley Guidance Center in Cottonwood where he had been taken. Then sent a photo to one of the guidance counselors who identified the man as James Inocencio. He had been reported missing June 14, 2009, from his hometown in Midlothian, Texas.
Inocencio's two brothers met him Friday at the Verde Valley Guidance Center. Inocencio was still somewhat unsure of the family connection, but it was obvious to staff that the brothers were his family, said Dwight D'Evelyn, media and crime prevention coordinator for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.
The family is not sure how Inocencio ended up in Arizona or what his mental state was during his ordeal.
On June 25, sheriff's deputies found a man with knife wounds to the neck and arms lying in a culvert on Tapco Road in Clarkdale. The injured man carried no identification and was unable to recall his name, where he lived, how he arrived in Clarkdale or how he suffered injuries.
He said a drunk driver killed his wife and daughters a year ago in New Mexico. He received treatment at the Verde Valley Medical Center for his injuries and eventually moved to the Verde Valley Guidance Center in Cottonwood.
According to the brothers, the story regarding the death of family members by a drunk driver are not true. Inocencio has been through a divorce and has one adult daughter.
On Aug. 31, Flagstaff Police found an abandoned car that belonged to James Inocencio. They found no evidence of foul play, and didn't know the connection to the unidentified man in Cottonwood.
More cash found on the freeway
On October 28, an Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Officer stopped a tractor-trailer rig on Interstate-17 at milepost 262, near Cordes Junction, for an equipment violation. A search of the vehicle revealed a false pallet of pressboard on a flatbed trailer. Inside the pallet, the officer found hidden $134,098 in suspected drug cash.
Delano Pierre Jones, 42, of Detroit, Mich., was arrested and charged with money laundering
Cottonwood police announce Friday closing
Cottonwood Police Department has advised that it will close its lobby on Fridays beginning today.
The Friday closures are due to staffing shortages and illness.
The closures will be in effect from Nov. 6 (today) through Jan. 8, 2010.
The Police Department will continue to handle telephone calls generated to the department of a non-emergency nature, however no one will be present to handle walk-in traffic at the department lobby.
During this time, the new hours for the police department lobby will be Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
