Project Cold Case's Founder's Father Murdered!

Clifford Thomas Backmann was the life of the party and everyone's friend. He was an avid reader, a civil war buff, a Gator fan and loved dogs and classical music.

Clifford was born on April 25th, 1953, in Long Island, New York to Thomas and Mary Backmann. 

In Jacksonville, Florida, on October 10th, 2009, Clifford was a 56-year-old, 6ft tall man and weighed 220 lbs. He had blue eyes, short dirty blonde hair and a matching mustache. 

He was by himself at newly built office complex at 6960 Bonneval Road near the intersection of Philips Highway and J. Turner Butler Blvd. He was a superintendent in the commercial construction industry and was at the site by himself to clean up and to check up on things. It was a second job for him which he had taken in order to help pay for his wife Jane's cancer treatment.

At 12:30 p.m., Clifford was standing in the doorway of suite 303 vacuuming up drywall dust when he was shot once in the lower left side of his back by a black man wearing a red shirt and possibly red shorts. The man then took Clifford's wallet and fled the scene. Clifford was able to pull out his cellphone and call 9-1-1 and give a brief description of the suspect before he fell unconscious on the sidewalk. He was rushed to the hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.

Later that day, Clifford's son Ryan was at home when two plain clothed police detectives exited an unmarked car and approached him. They said that they were sorry and informed him that his father was murdered earlier that day. Ryan was in shock; he had just talked to his father the night before.

Clifford had divorced Ryan's mother when Ryan was two years old. He was in and out of Ryan's life and for the last ten years they were working on their relationship and were closer than they had ever been before.

 

Police searched the scene, canvased the area and checked surveillance footage in order to help identify the suspect. It appeared the only witness to the crime.

Sadly, while waiting for answers in her husband's murder, Jane passed away from cancer on Thursday, May 13th, 2010.  Jane had been the manager of Loops Nursery in Jacksonville.

In April of 2011, Ryan met with authorities, who despite their efforts to solve Clifford's murder, informed him that they had no more leads to investigate and that his father’s case was officially considered to be cold. This is when the idea for Project Cold Case sparked in Ryan's head.

In March 2013, Ryan and Senator Aaron Bean, drafted a bill which would push for legislation to create a Cold Case Task Force. The bill passed in April of 2015. The bill included plans to have 19 members pulled from law enforcement and local victim advocacy groups to lead their task force. The group would be tasked with evaluating policies and procedures which are used by law enforcement agencies to investigate unsolved homicides and cold cases, along with establishing best practices for these policies and procedures.

In March of 2015, Project Cold Case was launched. Project Cold Case is a non-profit organization and website which publicizes and brings awareness to unsolved homicides in the United States. They work closely with surviving family members and law enforcement.

"As the son of an unsolved homicide victim, I can see how a case gets forgotten and without somebody to fight for that victim to constantly keep them in the public eye, they just slowly disappear." -Ryan Backmann

Clifford never got to meet his grandchildren that were born after he was murdered. 

If you have any information regarding Clifford’s murder, please contact the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at (904) 630-0500 or in an email to JSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org. Those who wish to remain anonymous and possibly receive a cash reward up to $3,000 can call Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-TIPS (8477).