Mike Burkle--Philadelphia Pennsylvania--1975
Cold Case File: Disappearance Of Mike Burkle Body Remained Unidentified For 24 Years POSTED: 1:35 pm EDT October 12, 2005 UPDATED: 11:18 pm EDT October 12, 2005 PHILADELPHIA -- This week NBC 10's Denise Nakano unlocks the cold case mystery of Mike Burkle, a 16-year-old from Philadelphia who vanished from his job at a gas station. Several days later, his body was found floating in a South Jersey creek. "He was found naked. No ID, like he was nobody. He was somebody. He is somebody," said Christine Fennimore, Burkle's sister. Burkle remained unidentified for nearly 24 years. "We searched for years and years and years, and the pain affected my other children. I had smaller children. I had eight kids and he was the second oldest," said Irene Seida, Burkle's mother. Burkle's disappearance created a void within his large family from Philadelphia. His older sister, Fennimore, was 18 when her brother vanished from her life. "He was actually an awkward kid, he was a knucklehead type of kid. He was a great kid. He was a good kid. He was naive. He was definitely naive," Fennimore said. Burkle's family believes it may have been his unsuspecting personality that got him into trouble on Oct. 13, 1975. On that day, Burkle disappeared from his job at a gas station on Delaware Avenue and Spring Garden. He left behind his lunch, his jacket and a pack of cigarettes. "My biggest question is what happened to him. He was a nice kid. He never hurt anybody, and in my heart of hearts I know he was murdered," Fennimore said. Three days after Burkle vanished, hunters found the naked body of an unknown teenager on the banks of Big Timber Creek in Gloucester Township, N.J. The cause of death was ruled a drowning, but why he drowned was never determined. Burkle remained buried as an unidentified male for the next 24 years. "It was not until additional information came out and the body was exhumed that they were actually able to identify him, in the year 2000," said Camden County Prosecutor Vince Sarubbi. It was a long wait to find a lost son, but the wait has not ended in finding out what happened to Burkle. Seida holds onto the locket that carries his picture, hoping the day will soon come when she finds out why her son died. "I believe he is around me all the time. I believe he is trying to tell me, 'Mom, you are going to find the person who did this,'" Seida said. Camden County prosecutors are treating Burkle's case as an unknown death, but his family still believes it was murder. If you have any information that can help, call the Camden County Prosecutor's Office at (856) 225-8466. NBC 10