Missing
James Mark Shumaker
Shumaker, approximately 1995; Steven Lorenzo; Scott Schweikert
Date and time person was reported missing : 10/20/1995
Missing location (approx) :
Tampa, Florida
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Male
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 12/25/1964 (56)
Age at the time of disappearance: 30 years old
Height / Weight : 5'9 - 5'11, 150 - 160 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A green, purple and black vest, green surgical pants, black Reebok sneakers and a silver neck chain.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian male. Blond hair, hazel eyes. Shumaker may go by his middle name, Mark, or use the name Marcus.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Shumaker was last seen at the Parthenon Cafe (now called The GarAge at the time of disappearance: ), a bar in the 800 block of Whiting Street in downtown Tampa, Florida, on October 20, 1995. He has never been heard from again. He was reported missing a few days later. He'd been dropped off at the bar, and left his vehicle behind at home.
Investigators have looked into the possibly that a serial offender may be responsible for Thompson's disappearance and the disappearances of David Rhodes, Barry Block, Mark Jackson, Mark Thompson and Bradley Williams, as well as the murder of Michael Wachholtz and the presumed murder of Jason Galehouse.
All of the men are gay, all were within roughly the same Age at the time of disappearance: group, and they all disappeared from the same area. Jackson, Rhodes and Block actually lived in and disappeared from the same apartment building in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, although Jackson disappeared seventeen years later than the other two men.
Rhodes and Block, who lived together, disappeared first, in 1988. Shumaker disappeared from Tampa in 1995. Thompson disappeared in 2001 from Clearwater, Florida, and his truck was later found abandoned in Tampa. Williams disappeared in from Tampa in 2001. Galehouse and Wachholtz disappeared from Tampa within a day of each other in December 2003. Wachholtz's body was found in mid-January 2004, but the other men remain missing.
Steven Lorenzo lived just across the street from Drake Towers, the apartment building Rhodes, Block and Jackson disappeared from. In May 2004, he and an accomplice were accused of drugging and killing Galehouse and Wachholtz. In January 2006, Lorenzo was sentenced to 200 years in prison for charges related to GHB, a "date rape" drug which causes people to become extremely drowsy and suggestible. His accomplice, Scott Paul Schweikert, was sentenced to 40 years in prison as an accessory after the fact in the GHB case. Photos of both Schweikert and Lorenzo are posted with this case summary.
In September 2012, Schweickert was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Wachholtz and Galehouse. In June 2016, he pleaded guilty to both murders and was sentenced to life in prison. This is on top of the 40 years he is already serving for the GHB-related charges. He admitted he and Lorenzo conspired to meet single gay men and turn them into "Gender : slaves", then either kill them or sell them once they became tired of them.
Schweickert spoke about Galehouse and Wachholtz's murders in detail and he has agreed to testify against Lorenzo in court, but Lorenzo has not yet been charged in any deaths.
No one has been charged in connection with Shumaker's disappearance; it remains unsolved. Authorities stated that other than their lifestyle, there's no evidence to tie his and the other cases to Lorenzo.
Other information and links : ncy
Tampa Police Department
813-276-3503
September 2021 updates and sources
Find Jason Now
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
The Herald Tribune
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Tampa Bay News
The St. Petersburg Times
Express Gay News
The Tampa Tribune
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
