New episode of ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ on Netflix features a Manatee County case
The unsolved case into how former Palmetto High School librarian Patrick “Pat” Mullins will be featured on a Netflix series out Tuesday.
“Unsolved Mysteries” Volume 3 episode “Body in the Bay” will focus on the death of the former Palmetto High School librarian.
Mullins was last seen on Jan. 27, 2013, when he left home alone on his 16-foot Stumpknocker boat. That Sunday night, when he didn’t return home, his wife Jill Mullins reported him missing.
His boat was initially found by a harbor pilot boat and then a U.S. Coast Guard vessel about seven miles west of Egmont Key in the shipping channel.
There was no evidence of blood on the boat nor that a struggle had occurred, according to the Coast Guard and Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
Mullins was not found until Feb. 5, 2013, when a charter boat captain spotted his body floating near Emerson Point in about 4 feet of water.
His body was dragging along the current behind a rope tied to an anchor. The rope was wrapped across his left shoulder twice, down in between his legs, around his waist about seven times and tied off across his chest.
After a reconstruction of his skull was completed, the 12th District Medical Examiners Office ruled cause of death to have been a shotgun blast to the head.
No other injuries indicative of a struggle were found. Because neither homicide nor suicide could be excluded, manner of death was ruled undetermined.
Directed by Robert M. Wise, Netflix has advertised the episode as “Patrick Lee Mullins, a well-loved school librarian and experienced boater, was found floating in a shallow area of Tampa Bay, carefully tied to his own anchor. Detectives quickly assumed he committed suicide, but Patrick’s family believes that he encountered illegal activity during a boat outing and was killed and dumped in the Bay.”
Homicide Detective Darryl Davis — who initially handled the investigation — was not interviewed for the show. The sheriff’s office also denied Davis to speak with the Bradenton Herald for this story.
A current homicide lieutenant, who was not with the sheriff’s office at the time of Mullin’s death, will be featured on the show, along Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Russell Vega and Mullins’ widow, Jill Mullins.
“The Medical Examiners Office indicated without firearm evidence supporting the injury to Mr. Mullins for comparison they will rule their findings as undetermined,” Davis wrote in his report. “The Medical Examiners did indicate based upon their review that Mr. Mullins was not likely a victim of a homicide.”
First aired in January of 1987, “Unsolved Mysteries” ran for ten seasons on NBC and two seasons on CBS. Three more seasons of the show were aired on Spike TV between 2008 and 2010, but episodes focused on updates on cases previously covered.
Netflix debuted it’s only rebooted version of the show in 2020, which for the first time had no host.
The latest volume of the show includes nine episodes, each focusing on a different case, that have been premiering over a three week-long period that began Oct. 18.
The last three episodes of this latest installment — including “Body in the Bay” — will be available to stream Nov. 1 on Netflix.
Netflix’s first two seasons of the show led to more than 5,000 tips and prompted the FBI to reopen their investigation into Alonzo Brooks’ death from the episode “No Ride Home” in Volume One, according to Executive Producer Terry Meurer.
“In Volume Three, we’re thrilled to be presenting nine new Unsolved Mysteries episodes, two of which were submitted by Unsolved viewers. With this volume, we’re again hoping the Netflix audience will engage to help solve these cases and bring justice to these families,” Meurer said. “Volume Three presents a variety of mysteries: unexplained deaths, fugitives, murders, missing persons and paranormal. Someone, somewhere knows holds the key to solving these baffling new mysteries... perhaps it’s you!”
This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 3:17 PM.
