Pedro Julio Orosa was 46 when he came to Florida from Cuba during the Mariel boat lift in 1980 and soon relocated from West Palm Beach to Naples to be nearer fellow townspeople. On May 12, 1981, friends from West Palm Beach drove him to a house on Van Buren Avenue in East Naples; he reportedly had between $700 and $1,000 in cash. That afternoon witnesses said Orosa and three Cuban friends from Naples left in a vehicle bound for Immokalee and told others they would be gone only a few hours.

Six days later, on May 18, 1981, Orosa’s body was found in a canal off 39th Avenue Northwest in Golden Gate Estates. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office is the reporting agency for these facts. Very little is known about what happened between May 12 and May 18. If anyone knew Pedro, his movements that week, or saw him with those friends, please come forward with information.