Woman found wrapped in trash bag floating off Egmont Key identified as Heather Rose Strickland

Back on December 10, a woman’s lifeless body was found wrapped in a trash bag and floating off Egmont Key, just off the coast of Pinellas County, Florida.  Her body was discovered on that fateful Saturday by a group of fishermen who were about 13 miles off the Pinellas County coastline who alerted the Unites States Coast Guard. 

Witnesses said they were spearfishing when they went for a dive. As they headed to the next spot, they found the trash bag. They tried to pick it up but quickly realized it was not trash. 

After cutting the plastic and canvas bag that was inside, they said they saw skin and what was believed to be a bra strap or bikini. The witnesses said they made the distress call shortly after the discovery. ~ The New York Post

The United States Coast Guard received the call shortly before noon that Saturday, December 10. The FBI is leading this investigation because the body was found in international waters. The FBI immediately deemed the woman’s death to be “suspicious.”

By December 16, the FBI released word that the body of the female victim had been identified as 34-year-old Heather Rose Strickland.  Officials are now seeking the public’s assistance to try and find out how any information regarding her death.

Investigators say that Heather’s body was found wrapped in bedding and in a plastic trash bag. They are awaiting toxicology reports from the Medical Examiner’s office to help determine a cause of death.

Heather was last seen on December 5 leaving HCA Florida Largo Hospital at 201 14th Street Southwest in Largo. Originally from the North Florida region, Strickland spent the last five years in the Clearwater-St. Petersburg area.

“We love her very much,” her father John Strickland told WFLA. “She was a kind person. She had some problems with mental illness, but she was a kind person, and no person deserves that.”

“I think the hardest thing is the way she was thrown out,” stepmother Sherrie Strickland told The Tampa Bay Times. “She was a person.”

Strickland’s parents did say that their daughter struggled with long-term mental illness issues, and that things got worse for her over time when she later became addicted to drugs.

FBI Tampa is asking the public to assist with any information that helps law enforcement piece together the events that led to Strickland’s death. If you have information to share, please call the FBI Tampa Field Office at (813) 253-1000 or submit a tip to tips.fbi.gov. You can remain anonymous.

For more on the story, see the video accompanying this article.

(Source: FBI Tampa)

Posted by Richard Webster  Ace News Today   /   Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter