Cordell Foreman, 43, worked two jobs to support his family.
One of those jobs was an early morning shift at the Long Horn Steakhouse on Marsh Landing Parkway where he would clean before the restaurant opened for business.
Jacksonville Beach Detective Steve Currier, has now taken over his case.
“He would clean Longhorn, Outback, did various restaurants,” said Currier. “I want to say [he worked] as an electrician, I believe it was, during the day.”
On Jan. 22, 2007, Currier said he was closing up and getting ready to go home but someone stopped him.
“We believe someone came up to him and brought him back inside the business before the alarm reactivated,” said Currier.
Foreman was shot to death inside the restaurant.
A working theory is that the suspect thought Foreman was the manager and possibly had access to a safe.
But that was not the case, the suspect got away with nothing but killed foreman anyway.
When detectives arrived at the scene they did not have much to go on. There was no forced entry and no viable DNA to be tested.
However, only several yards away the surveillance camera of a target captured a man that police still want to talk to.
It appears to be a white man, dressed in all black clothing. Police say around the time of the murder, he was seen knocking on the front doors of the nearby Target to get employees’ attention.
Currier stopped short of calling him a person of interest.
“To see if he saw anything maybe he saw somebody else come through the front door or did he go to the door and try to ask for something,” said Currier.
In 2007, police drained nearby ponds to try to find the murder weapon, but it was never recovered.
They did recover a shell casing at the scene.
“Is it possible that the only witness to this crime was the victim himself? Asked Lorena Inclan. “Yes, unfortunately,” said Currier.
Despite Longhorn raising the reward, very few tips have come in on the case which is why police are hoping that by releasing the images, they can jog someone’s memory.
Right now, a tip could be the only way to solve this case.
Action News Jax tried reaching out to Foreman’s family but we did not hear back before publication.
If you have any information that could help police make an arrest in this case call CrimeStoppers at 888-845-TIPS.
Cox Media Group
