St. Lucie County Sheriff Richard Del Toro said May 27 the homicide of a man found dead in a tent remains under investigation, though he could not immediately publicly identify the deceased “or how he was murdered.”
“It’s all hands on deck with our criminal investigations division,” Del Toro told TCPalm in a morning interview.
On May 25, investigators went to the 2600 block of Rolyat Street regarding a dead body in a tent. The location is north of Okeechobee Road and east of South Jenkins Road.
“Because of the state of the body at the time, it wasn’t evident there that it was a homicide,” Del Toro said. “We then went and did an autopsy. The medical examiner determined it to be a homicide.”
Del Toro said sheriff’s officials got a search warrant and have been at the tent trying to collect evidence.
At least four St. Lucie County crime scene vans in the early afternoon of May 27 lined Rolyat Street, as a number of sheriff’s officials appeared to gather items from a wooded area on the east side of the road. At one point, two people carried a large cardboard box away from the property.
“There’s a lot of homeless people that gather in that area,” he said. “It’s very overgrown, so they’re out there with basically machetes, weed whackers trying to search the area for any type of evidence that they can find.”
He said the body of the man wasn’t in a state in which it easily was identifiable. He said the man is thought to be a member of the homeless community.
Investigators are interviewing those in and around the area who may have seen the deceased.
Those with information are asked to contact 911 or Detective Corporal D. Felix at 772-462-3261 or CrimeInfo@stluciesheriff.gov
Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: ‘All hands on deck’ in homicide investigation in Florida
Reporting by Will Greenlee, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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