Polk County Sheriff Seeks Leads in 1978 Frank Comeau Cold Case

The Polk County Sheriff's Office is asking for public assistance in solving the 1978 homicide of Frank J. Comeau. Detectives continue to investigate the unsolved death, which occurred on December 4, 1978.

On the evening of December 4, 1978, Comeau, then 27, followed his wife's vehicle. His wife had stopped to give a ride to a hitchhiker on South Florida Avenue. She intended to drop the hitchhiker off at the intersection of I-4 and U.S. Highway 98.

North of I-4 on Highway 98, near the Foxfire Restaurant, the hitchhiker produced a knife and attempted to steal the car. Comeau stopped his vehicle behind his wife's car to intervene. During the confrontation, the assailant drove off, dragging Comeau beneath the vehicle and running him over. The perpetrator then lost control of the car, which overturned across from the Foxfire Restaurant before the hitchhiker fled on foot.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office Homicide Unit urges anyone with information about the incident to contact them. Any detail, no matter how minor, could help provide closure to the Comeau family and solve this decades-old case.