The Vanishing of James Mark Shumaker: Unraveling Tampa’s Forgotten Mystery

A Night Out That Turned Into a Mystery

On the evening of October 20, 1995, James Mark Shumaker, a 30-year-old Tampa resident, was last seen at the Parthenon Café, a downtown gay bar located on Whiting Street. He had been dropped off at the venue, leaving his vehicle at home, and was never heard from again. His disappearance was reported a few days later, initiating a missing persons investigation that remains unresolved to this day .

The Man Behind the Name

Born on December 25, 1964, Shumaker stood between 5'9" and 5'11" and weighed approximately 150 to 160 pounds. He had blond or light brown hair and hazel eyes. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing green surgical pants, a multicolored vest in shades of green, purple, and black, black Reebok sneakers, and a silver neck chain. He was known to go by his middle name, Mark, or the alias Marcus .

A Pattern Among Disappearances

Shumaker's case is not isolated; it is part of a series of disappearances and murders involving gay men in the Tampa area during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. These cases include the disappearances of David Rhodes, Barry Block, Mark Jackson, Mark Thompson, and Bradley Williams, as well as the murders of Michael Wachholtz and the presumed murder of Jason Galehouse. All these men were within a similar age group and disappeared under comparable circumstances .

The Lorenzo Connection

Steven Lorenzo, a Tampa resident, has been linked to several of these cases. In 2004, Lorenzo and his accomplice, Scott Schweickert, were accused of drugging and killing Galehouse and Wachholtz. Lorenzo was later sentenced to 200 years in prison for charges related to the use of GHB, a "date rape" drug. Schweickert received a 40-year sentence as an accessory after the fact. In 2016, Schweickert pleaded guilty to the murders of Galehouse and Wachholtz and was sentenced to life in prison. He admitted that he and Lorenzo conspired to meet single gay men, turn them into "sex slaves," and then either kill them or sell them once they became tired of them ....Read More

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