Only five people attended his funeral.
None of them had even heard of 44-year-old Kenneth Clay Pierce before highway department workers found his body two years ago, stuffed in a toolbox the size of a footlocker and left just east of Seminole's Donovan Landing in eastern Baldwin County.
Pierce had been struck over the head with a large object, and by the time authorities clipped the two pieces of wire that secured the box, the body inside had decomposed so badly that it was almost unrecognizable.
The coroner at the time, Huey Mack Sr., said forensic experts used X-rays and medical records to identify Pierce, who was born in Mayfield County, Ky., and had been living in Pensacola.
On an early autumn morning in 2005 at the county's public cemetery on U.S. 98 in Foley, city workers lowered Pierce's gray coffin into the grave, and the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office chaplain read Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."
Then the chaplain prayed for answers to the questions that surrounded Pierce's death. The service lasted but a few minutes.
Authorities were never able to track down Pierce's relatives which is why he was buried in a pauper's grave.
Though Pierce was probably killed in Escambia County, Fla., law enforcement officials where his body was found were deemed to be responsible for the investigation.
Sheriff's Capt. Nathan Lusk, who was originally assigned to the case, declined to say exactly how many people he questioned. But he said he believes Pierce was killed in Florida and dumped in the Seminole area, about a mile from the state line.
Pierce had lived at more than five addresses in Florida during a 13-year period and had last worked in hurricane cleanup efforts in the Pensacola area.
Pierce stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 160 pounds, according to his drivers license.
None of them had even heard of 44-year-old Kenneth Clay Pierce before highway department workers found his body two years ago, stuffed in a toolbox the size of a footlocker and left just east of Seminole's Donovan Landing in eastern Baldwin County.
Pierce had been struck over the head with a large object, and by the time authorities clipped the two pieces of wire that secured the box, the body inside had decomposed so badly that it was almost unrecognizable.
The coroner at the time, Huey Mack Sr., said forensic experts used X-rays and medical records to identify Pierce, who was born in Mayfield County, Ky., and had been living in Pensacola.
On an early autumn morning in 2005 at the county's public cemetery on U.S. 98 in Foley, city workers lowered Pierce's gray coffin into the grave, and the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office chaplain read Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."
Then the chaplain prayed for answers to the questions that surrounded Pierce's death. The service lasted but a few minutes.
Authorities were never able to track down Pierce's relatives which is why he was buried in a pauper's grave.
Though Pierce was probably killed in Escambia County, Fla., law enforcement officials where his body was found were deemed to be responsible for the investigation.
Sheriff's Capt. Nathan Lusk, who was originally assigned to the case, declined to say exactly how many people he questioned. But he said he believes Pierce was killed in Florida and dumped in the Seminole area, about a mile from the state line.
Pierce had lived at more than five addresses in Florida during a 13-year period and had last worked in hurricane cleanup efforts in the Pensacola area.
Pierce stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 160 pounds, according to his drivers license.
Only five people attended his funeral.
None of them had even heard of 44-year-old Kenneth Clay Pierce before highway department workers found his body two years ago, stuffed in a toolbox the size of a footlocker and left just east of Seminole's Donovan Landing in eastern Baldwin County.
Pierce had been struck over the head with a large object, and by the time authorities clipped the two pieces of wire that secured the box, the body inside had decomposed so badly that it was almost unrecognizable.
The coroner at the time, Huey Mack Sr., said forensic experts used X-rays and medical records to identify Pierce, who was born in Mayfield County, Ky., and had been living in Pensacola.
On an early autumn morning in 2005 at the county's public cemetery on U.S. 98 in Foley, city workers lowered Pierce's gray coffin into the grave, and the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office chaplain read Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."
Then the chaplain prayed for answers to the questions that surrounded Pierce's death. The service lasted but a few minutes.
Authorities were never able to track down Pierce's relatives which is why he was buried in a pauper's grave.
Though Pierce was probably killed in Escambia County, Fla., law enforcement officials where his body was found were deemed to be responsible for the investigation.
Sheriff's Capt. Nathan Lusk, who was originally assigned to the case, declined to say exactly how many people he questioned. But he said he believes Pierce was killed in Florida and dumped in the Seminole area, about a mile from the state line.
Pierce had lived at more than five addresses in Florida during a 13-year period and had last worked in hurricane cleanup efforts in the Pensacola area.
Pierce stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 160 pounds, according to his drivers license.
None of them had even heard of 44-year-old Kenneth Clay Pierce before highway department workers found his body two years ago, stuffed in a toolbox the size of a footlocker and left just east of Seminole's Donovan Landing in eastern Baldwin County.
Pierce had been struck over the head with a large object, and by the time authorities clipped the two pieces of wire that secured the box, the body inside had decomposed so badly that it was almost unrecognizable.
The coroner at the time, Huey Mack Sr., said forensic experts used X-rays and medical records to identify Pierce, who was born in Mayfield County, Ky., and had been living in Pensacola.
On an early autumn morning in 2005 at the county's public cemetery on U.S. 98 in Foley, city workers lowered Pierce's gray coffin into the grave, and the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office chaplain read Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."
Then the chaplain prayed for answers to the questions that surrounded Pierce's death. The service lasted but a few minutes.
Authorities were never able to track down Pierce's relatives which is why he was buried in a pauper's grave.
Though Pierce was probably killed in Escambia County, Fla., law enforcement officials where his body was found were deemed to be responsible for the investigation.
Sheriff's Capt. Nathan Lusk, who was originally assigned to the case, declined to say exactly how many people he questioned. But he said he believes Pierce was killed in Florida and dumped in the Seminole area, about a mile from the state line.
Pierce had lived at more than five addresses in Florida during a 13-year period and had last worked in hurricane cleanup efforts in the Pensacola area.
Pierce stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 160 pounds, according to his drivers license.
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