A Tampa Police vehicles taken in Tampa, Florida on July 31, 2020. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker

On Monday morning, Tampa police got a call about an unidentified woman’s body discovered in an abandoned building on the 1800 block of E Sligh Avenue in Old Seminole Heights.

TPD has not been able to identify the exact age of the woman, but a press release said she was between 28 and 40-years-old. TPD added that the woman was “partially clothed” and experienced upper body trauma.

Near 8 a.m. on Monday morning, a foreman with JVS Contracting arrived at the abandoned building that was in the process of being demolished, Matthew Boggs, Supervisor of Safety and Compliance at JVS, told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. As is standard procedure, the foreman and a construction worker did a walkthrough of the house to make sure no one was inside.

On Monday morning, Tampa police got a call about an unidentified woman’s body discovered in an abandoned building on the 1800 block of E Sligh Avenue in Old Seminole Heights. Credit: Courtesy

The front entrance was impossible to open, so the foreman and a worker went around the backdoor. They crossed through the house’s kitchen and toward a bedroom, when the foreman suddenly saw a face. He made noises to try to wake the woman up, thinking she was maybe sleeping there.

When the foreman realized that the woman wasn’t just sleeping, he and the worker ran out of the house immediately and called Boggs, who then called the police. Police and fire rescue headed to the scene, and so did Boggs. When he got there, the fire rescue team left and the house was turned into a crime scene by the police.

People in the neighborhood who watched the scene unfold were approached by TPD officers and later, TPD Detective Rachel Cholnik. The neighbors, who wish to remain anonymous, told CL that TPD officers said they believed the situation was a homicide. They said they believed it happened during the night or early morning, and asked the neighbors if they had heard or seen anything, which they hadn’t. Police told the neighbors that it didn’t look like the woman had been moved into the house after she died, because it was difficult to get into the house and there wasn’t evidence of the body being moved.

TPD said they cannot release more information as the situation is still being investigated.

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