The identity of the young man found mutilated on a Milton, Mass., street almost a week ago has been confirmed by a fingerprint as former Baltimore resident 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale, the Norfolk DA announced tonight.
The Charlotte, N.C., teen was reported missing last Sunday by his father, Anthony Tisdale, 22 hours before a shirtless, shoeless body was found in the middle of Brierbrook Street, a secluded part of Milton bordering the Blue Hills Reservation.
The body was so badly mutilated an autopsy couldn't determine the cause of death, Milton Deputy Chief Charles Paris said today.
A hand-written note — which appears to be a hall pass — was found on Tisdale's body. The first name is illegible but looks like "Delvonte" and the last name is clearly written as "Tisdale." There is a signature of the note writer, and the date: 10/19/2010.
Over the weekend, a Milton police officer and two Massachusetts state troopers flew to Charlotte and went to Tisdale's home to gather DNA samples and fingerprints from family members to make a positive identification, Paris said.
WCNC-TV reported a step-sister said Tisdale had a contentious relationship with his father and was running away. She said the teen had moved to Charlotte with his family last summer and enrolled at North Meck High, where he was a member of the Air Force Jr. ROTC program.
Tisdale, she said, didn't want to be in the military and didn't like living in North Carolina and was believed to be heading back to Baltimore, where he'd lived before moving to Charlotte.
Another half-brother, 18-year-old Craig Tisdale, told the Boston Globe that Tisdale could have gotten into a car with two friends bound for Boston -- arranging to be dropped off in Baltimore.
"My best guess was that he was trying to come back to his family," Craig Tisdale said. "The guys he got in the car with were supposed to be friends. I think he was expecting to be driven back to Baltimore."