MANATEE COUNTY- A Myakka City Resident found a burning body on the side of the road in rural Myakka City Wednesday night, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case as a homicide. Just after 11:20 PM Manatee County Sheriff’s Office got the call that a body was burning on MJ road.
“This is not a heavily populated road so someone may have been looking at this as a good location to leave a body.”
The body was found behind a guard rail across the street from a home. Larry Blanton lives nearby and was surprised to hear a body was found.
“Obviously I can’t say,” Larry Blanton said. “But it seems like it was somebody that didn’t know the area that well because obviously dumping a body in this area is kind of strange, because there is a lot of people in this area, and it’s a small knit community where everybody knows everybody.”
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Randy Warren says based on preliminary information they don’t believe the victim or suspect is from the area.
“We believe that this was a person that was brought to the area, possibly killed and then dumped in this location; we don’t have any evidence of any crimes or activities that were going on in that area prior to this.”
Warren says it’s still early in the investigation, and the body has not been identified.
“It appears the person could have already been dead before they were set on fire. We don’t know who the person is yet, we don’t know how they got there, and the circumstances surrounding all of that is something we are working on now with a lot of different leads that we’re following.”
Warren says right now they can only determine the body is a black male in his early twenties or late teens.
“The body is burned enough where it is making the process of identifying this person a little bit more difficult, it’s going to take us a little bit of time.”
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office at 941-747-3011 or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 866-634-TIPS.
