Case Details
- Photo URLs:
-
- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 08/26/1985
- Missing From:
- Missing From Fort Pierce, Florida
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Male
- Race:
- Race Hispanic
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 03/17/1961 (63)
- Age:
- Age 24 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 6’1, 170 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A button-up shirt, jeans and gray cowboy boots.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic male. Black hair, brown eyes. DiFrancesco has scars on both legs from burns and skin grafts. His nickname is Pat.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Two men, DiFrancesco and his friend James Johnson, vanished from Fort Pierce, Florida on August 26, 1985. They took off in a small plane, supposedly for a quick trip to the Bahamas or Virgin Islands to pick up marijuana. Neither man was ever seen again, and the plane was never found.
There was a rumor DiFrancesco was in a Jamaican jail, but it was never confirmed. The plane belonged to Howard “Jay” Crouch, a wheelchair user involved in drug trafficking. DiFrancesco worked as a concrete worker and secretly flew cocaine for Crouch. Crouch was later convicted of cocaine trafficking but never charged in connection with DiFrancesco and Johnson’s disappearance. Interestingly, the men disappeared from the same airstrip where Crouch had arranged a large cocaine drop the year before.
DiFrancesco’s brother suspects foul play and believes they were murdered and buried near Fort Pierce, as DiFrancesco was a loving father and wouldn’t have abandoned his family. The mystery remains unsolved.
- Agency:
- St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office 772-461-7300
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 08/26/1985