Joseph Dumas

Joseph Dumas, 19, was fatally shot by Taylor County Constable Henry Sauls during a traffic stop on May 5, 1962. Dumas's own family members, who witnessed the shooting, told investigators that Sauls shot him in the back while Dumas stood still with his hands raised. Sauls gave a different account, saying he was removing a switchblade from Dumas's pocket when Dumas lunged at him and the gun discharged accidentally. A local grand jury declined to indict Sauls later that year, but he was separately tried in federal court under the federal civil rights statute and acquitted in September 1962. Sauls died in 1974. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division reopened the case under its Cold Case Initiative in 2008 and closed it again in 2010.

Perry, FL · Taylor County

• 1962: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• Victim identity and the May 5, 1962 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file.
• Constable Henry Sauls was tried in federal court under 18 U.S.C. § 242 and acquitted in September 1962, after a local grand jury had already declined to indict him, per the same file.

• No one was ever convicted in Dumas's death despite two separate legal proceedings.
• The directly conflicting accounts — Dumas's family describing an execution-style shooting of a compliant, unarmed man, versus Sauls's claim of an accidental discharge during a struggle — were never resolved.

• U.S. Department of Justice — Notice to Close File
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs