Authorities announced Wednesday that a Florida woman had been charged after police claimed she burned a dead body “beyond recognition” in an alleyway dumpster last month.
According to online booking records maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Cree Daniela Worley, 30, of Pinellas Park, was detained on Tuesday evening and is currently charged with three counts of driving while ineligible for a license and a felony count of abusing a dead body.
On August 18, at around 12:42 a.m. EDT, St. Petersburg police and firefighters responded to a dumpster fire, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Authorities discovered a 31-year-old woman’s body after the fire was put out, according to WFLA-TV. A news release from the St. Petersburg Police Department ultimately identified Heather Elizabeth Olmstead’s body.
According to firefighters, the majority of the woman’s upper and lower extremities were destroyed by fire, according to a report in the Times. Firefighters added that the woman’s body was “beyond recognition” at the scene because she had doused it with a flammable substance before igniting it.
After obtaining a single, usable thumbprint, the medical examiner’s office later determined the body to be Olmstead’s, the newspaper reported, citing Pinellas County court records. According to WTVT, the authorities have not disclosed the precise cause of death for Olmstead.
According to WTVT, surveillance video from the scene showed a white Ford pickup pulling away from the burning dumpster. According to the television station, investigators claimed that additional surveillance video showed the truck’s license plate, which belonged to Worley’s mother.
Detectives were led to Worley by that finding. According to online jail records, Worley was still being held at the Pinellas County Jail. His bail was set at $20,513.
