Burning Body Case: 3rd Arrest Made, St. Pete Police Say

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A third person was arrested after a burning body was found in a St. Petersburg alley last month, authorities said.

Jerrish Stephens, 42, of St. Petersburg has been charged with abuse of a dead body a month after 30-year-old Heather Elizabeth Olmstead’s burned body was found in a dumpster in the alley behind 2920 Emerson Ave. S., according to his redacted St. Petersburg police arrest affidavits.

He was also charged on an out-of-county warrant for felony murder, police said.

Olmstead was found in the early morning hours of Aug. 18, after St. Petersburg Fire Rescue responded to a call about a fire. Once the fire was out, firefighters discovered her body in a trash container, according to SPPD.

Earlier this month, a mother and daughter — Julie Heltman Curran, 64, and Cree Daniela Worley, 30, both of Pinellas Park — were charged with abuse of a dead body in relation to the case.

The three suspects lit Olmstead’s body on fire using a flammable substance, “causing severe damage to (her) body,” according to police records.

Video surveillance footage shows a white Ford pick-up truck registered to Curran pulling away from the burning trash container, her arrest affidavit said.

A cell phone found near Olmstead’s body was linked to a man seen with Curran and Worley about 15 minutes before the fire was reported, according to Worley’s arrest report.

Stephens told police the mother and daughter had been to his house on 10th Avenue S. to buy crack cocaine on the night of the fire, records show. He said a man whose cell phone was found at the scene was also with the two women but remained inside his truck.

Stephens told police he placed a gas can in the back of the truck, according to records. Video surveillance footage also shows him putting the gas can in the truck.

This case remains under investigation.