David Sherman vanishes from Florida town

[petermattson]

This forum has been very keen about combing through the details of missing persons' lives to uncover possible motives for disappearances.

This happened in the town I grew up in (Venice, FL has around 20,000 permanent residents). Sherman had been a city councilman since 2011 but he lost his re-election bid last November. His cars, wallet, keys and everything else were found still in is home. People who worked with him and knew him well described him as in good spirits and of mental soundness at the time of his disappearance. No signs of foul play have been discovered (or at least released to the public).

"The disappearance of the 67-year-old Sherman has friends and law enforcement baffled. 'It's like an alien abduction. Everything is in place except Dave is not there,' says Kip McKeon a Venice city councilman who served with Sherman. He says the two are good friends. McKeon says, 'My fear is he's not coming home.'"

http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/local/2015/02/10/mysterious-disappearance-of-ex-venice-city-councilman/23187565/

[Dredimus]

The only question I could even remotely figure to ask in this case is Does Mr. Sherman have anything to do with the Pension shortfalls in Venice? Beyond that, there is just such a lack of evidence that no one is really going to be able to do much until something else comes in.

[xYlvax]

Maybe he was in cahoots with the wrong people..

[petermattson]

The only question I could even remotely figure to ask in this case is Does Mr. Sherman have anything to do with the Pension shortfalls in Venice? Beyond that, there is just such a lack of evidence that no one is really going to be able to do much until something else comes in.

The politics angle is interesting. He was defeated by a fiscal conservative who is the wife of the person he defeated in 2011. From what I can tell, the period in which he served was not a contentious one and he was defeated relatively narrowly (437 votes out of 9,259 total) in November. It's true that Venice is facing a major crisis in terms of the pension shortfalls as the city has been underfunding the firefighter pensions by as much as 50% going back to at least 2009. While there is a lot of contention over this particular issue, I haven't found any indication Sherman was a factor in the pension problem. Also, he was defeated so there wouldn't be a motive for "removing" him but only one of "revenge." I think the political angle is worth looking into though because, like you said, we don't have any other angles.

[petermattson]

Update: Suspected suicide in David Sherman case.http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/local/body-found-in-venice-park-could-be-linked-to-disappearance/article_da3d1bd4-b78c-11e4-a48a-eb221238fe5b.html

[Vincennes]

The politics angle is interesting. He was defeated by a fiscal conservative who is the wife of the person he defeated in 2011. From what I can tell, the period in which he served was not a contentious one and he was defeated relatively narrowly (437 votes out of 9,259 total) in November. It's true that Venice is facing a major crisis in terms of the pension shortfalls as the city has been underfunding the firefighter pensions by as much as 50% going back to at least 2009. While there is a lot of contention over this particular issue, I haven't found any indication Sherman was a factor in the pension problem. Also, he was defeated so there wouldn't be a motive for "removing" him but only one of "revenge." I think the political angle is worth looking into though because, like you said, we don't have any other angles.

What's with the city short funding the pensions ? Aren't the pensions handled by the state ? Do you mean that the city withheld monies from the employees and then didn't turn the funds over to the state ? I'm just asking that because if they were doing that I would think that would mean there were multiple people involved. That would seem to me to increase the chances that he needed to be silenced.

Seems like a very funny way to commit suicide. Why would you go outside your home and increase the opportunity for people to see you ? I'm interested to see what they come up with as the method of suicide and indications that he was depressed.

Lately I've been watching a lot of the ID series "Disappeared" and there seem to be a good percentage of those that they find later are murders set up to look like suicides when the body is found.

So just saying ..... ???

[Vincennes]

I just did a quick search and found this : http://www.insideveniceflorida.com/display_blog.cfm?bid=28762714-A0DC-0EED-CECBA93508A990E9

Sounds like there were also some city development issues going on with Sherman being the one who was most likely to oppose. Certainly an area that Sherman might just have been in the way of those wanting to make some pretty substantial money.

[petermattson]

What's with the city short funding the pensions ? Aren't the pensions handled by the state ? Do you mean that the city withheld monies from the employees and then didn't turn the funds over to the state ? I'm just asking that because if they were doing that I would think that would mean there were multiple people involved. That would seem to me to increase the chances that he needed to be silenced.

Seems like a very funny way to commit suicide. Why would you go outside your home and increase the opportunity for people to see you ? I'm interested to see what they come up with as the method of suicide and indications that he was depressed.

Lately I've been watching a lot of the ID series "Disappeared" and there seem to be a good percentage of those that they find later are murders set up to look like suicides when the body is found.

So just saying ..... ???

Here is an article explaining the pension problem. I don't know if there's an indication why the fund was below expectations. I assume the pension fund was dipped into to finance other projects. According to the article, Venice was the only city in Sarasota or Manatee counties to get a letter from the state regarding this issue.

http://www.gainesvil...nd-underfunded-

The VPD has stated they believe it to be a suicide but so far I think they are reserving final judgment. The info I've found from local reporting is that he had a single gunshot wound from a firearm that was missing from his home. Local reporting also suggests personal finances were a problem, though it seems none of his friends were aware of that issue.

Playing conspiracist, it's suspicious that he did not leave a note for his girlfriend (though I know that is actually quite common) and that he apparently just made a mortgage payment and the day he died he called a friend in the morning saying he had just purchased some paint. His girlfriend said he was planning to get paint and mow his lawn that day.

I did a Google Earth search of the area where he died (I used to play Little League at the field just south of there!) and I also thought it was strange for him to wander off into the woods to commit suicide. Of course you never know what goes through a person's head but from my research it looks like he was trying to hide his own body. He was found in a heavily wooded area at least a hundred feet off a secluded jogging path.

He was described as an outgoing people person but he definitely had some relationship problems. Local reporting suggest 4 divorces and an earlier period in his life when he had left his family and "vanished" for six and a half years. Maybe he likes to create mysteries?

Edited February 19, 2015 by petermattson

[Vincennes]

Here is an article explaining the pension problem. I don't know if there's an indication why the fund was below expectations. I assume the pension fund was dipped into to finance other projects. According to the article, Venice was the only city in Sarasota or Manatee counties to get a letter from the state regarding this issue.

http://www.gainesvil...nd-underfunded-

The VPD has stated they believe it to be a suicide but so far I think they are reserving final judgment. The info I've found from local reporting is that he had a single gunshot wound from a firearm that was missing from his home. Local reporting also suggests personal finances were a problem, though it seems none of his friends were aware of that issue.

Playing conspiracist, it's suspicious that he did not leave a note for his girlfriend (though I know that is actually quite common) and that he apparently just made a mortgage payment and the day he died he called a friend in the morning saying he had just purchased some paint. His girlfriend said he was planning to get paint and mow his lawn that day.

I did a Google Earth search of the area where he died (I used to play Little League at the field just south of there!) and I also thought it was strange for him to wander off into the woods to commit suicide. Of course you never know what goes through a person's head but from my research it looks like he was trying to hide his own body. He was found in a heavily wooded area at least a hundred feet off a secluded jogging path.

He was described as an outgoing people person but he definitely had some relationship problems. Local reporting suggest 4 divorces and an earlier period in his life when he had left his family and "vanished" for six and a half years. Maybe he likes to create mysteries?

That is a really different type pension system for public employees than they have here in Ohio. Accepting that, I still have some questions about the deficit. The article states that their funding goes through an audit type thing by a state dept. every three years and although it doesn't actually state that they passed three years ago, it leaves me to surmise that it did because it says they didn't receive a letter three years ago. Now, just three years later, they come up close to 50% short for the ENTIRE amount that should be there. They have .47 cents on the dollar amount of $21,500,000. The article also indicates that the amount that should have been funded to the pension fund was close to 30% of each budget year with the budget for the fire dept. being in the $6,000,000. range. It shouldn't have been that hard for council members to look at that budget and look for the amount of $2,000,000 set aside for pensions. It should have been pretty easy to see that it was either missing or too low. (I also wonder who "department Director Chad Poppell" is. Is he a state audit official or is he another county official ?)

If you use the $2,000,000. that was needed as being 50% too low for those three years, the fund should now be only $3,000,000 too low. However, that would mean the fund wasn't being underfunded for just the last three years, they are pointing to the ENTIRE fund as 50% low. They have .47 cents on a necessary amount of $21,500,000 would mean a shortage of $10,105,000 which is more than if the fund hadn't received any funding for the last three years.

Did that council or the County Treasurer have the ability to dip into those funds or were they actually short at the previous audit and for some reason weren't outed on that but passed over ?

With all of that said, I still think that the fact that Sherman stood against zoning changes that would enlarge profit opportunities would represent a whole lot more money than the $10 + million we are talking about missing in the fireman's fund but that possibility seems lessened by the fact he wasn't reelected to council.

Certainly this is an interesting mystery because after taking this missing money and that into consideration, we add he had disappeared for 6 1/2 years prior to this ????? 6 1/2 years is a darn long time to go missing from your family, then pop up again, buy a business and reestablish himself as such a well regarded member of the community. Where did the funds to do that come from ??? Was child support, alimony involved in that ??

Edited February 20, 2015 by Vincennes