Florida woman found driving around with dead body in her car for at least 10 days
Indian River County resident John Swanigan was last seen by his family members on Friday, January 8. The Sheriff’s Office posted a notice on Facebook asking the public to keep an eye out for the 60-year-old missing Florida man who was known to frequent the areas of Smith’s Store and Guy Colley’s – and that Swanigan would regularly travel to the Gifford area via the Go-Line from the Whispering Palms neighborhood.
A few days later after their first Facebook post, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office announced that they were attempting to locate 37-year-old Andrea Sanchez. They said that Sanchez was needed for questioning and that she was last seen driving the pictured silver sedan below, described as possibly being a 1992-1998 Silver BMW – and that the vehicle was said to not have a tag.
It wasn’t until January 20 that the public became aware as to why law enforcement was looking for Sanchez.
WEAR-TV reported witnesses as saying that Swanigan was at Smith’s Grocery Store in Gifford on January 9 and that they saw him getting into Sanchez’s silver BMW. Sanchez and Swanigan were also seen together at a house party that same day.
On January 19, deputies announced that a tip led them to the deceased remains of John Swanigan at a residence in Sebastian and that they were interviewing a person of interest in the missing man case that was now being investigated as a homicide.
After receiving that tip, deputies caught up with Sanchez at her home on Dickens Avenue in Sebastian.
Sanchez was approached by deputies while doing yardwork and asked her if she knew why they were there. She said yes, and asked if it was about the “missing guy.”
Deputies noticed there were flies around in the trunk area [of her car] and immediately smelled a “strong pungent odor” that grew stronger the closer they got, according to the sheriff’s office. After receiving Sanchez’s permission, they opened the trunk and discovered Swanigan’s body. ~ WEAR-TV
The deputies said that Sanchez had been driving around with Swanigan’s dead body in the trunk of her car for at least 10 days and that his body was just covered with a blanket.
The Sheriff’s Office shared that an autopsy of Swanigan’s remains proved inconclusive and that there were no signs of trauma, according to WPTV.
“We are certainly treating this as a homicide,” said Sheriff Eric Flowers.
“We’ve got a dead missing person found in the trunk of a car, so it’s going to be a homicide.”
Flowers said Sanchez couldn’t explain why Swanigan was in the trunk or how he got there. ~ WPBF
Following her arrest, Sanchez was booked into the Indian River County Jail on a charge of Abuse of a Dead Human Body. As of this writing there are no murder charges, but additional charges could be pending. She had her bail set at $50,000 and will be in court again on February 26.
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
