Burning Body Case: 4th Arrest Made Months Later, St. Pete Police Say

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Months after a burning body was found in a dumpster in a St. Petersburg alley in August, a fourth person was arrested in relation to the case, authorities said.

Martellish Hale, 43, of St. Petersburg was charged with abuse of a dead body, according to an arrest affidavit from St. Petersburg police.

He also faces multiple other charges related to the circumstances of his arrest, including resisting an officer with violence, resisting an officer without violence, aggravated battery on a law enforcement, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a controlled substance, tampering with physical evidence, driving while a license was suspended or revoked, reckless driving, and leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavits show.

The burning body of Heather Elizabeth Olmstead, 30, was found in the early morning hours of Aug. 18 in a dumpster in the alley behind 2920 Emerson Ave. S.

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St. Petersburg Fire Rescue responded to a call about a fire in the trash container. Once the fire was out, firefighters discovered her body in it.

In September, a mother and daughter — Julie Heltman Curran, 64, and Cree Daniela Worley, 30, both of Pinellas Park — and a 42-year-old St. Petersburg man, Jerrish Stephens, were charged with abuse of a dead body.

The 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, arrest records show.

A cell phone found near Olmstead’s body was also linked to Hale, his arrest report said.

Stephens told police in September that Curran and Worley had been to his house on 10th Avenue S. to buy crack cocaine on the night of the fire, records show.

Additional surveillance footage shows two trucks – Curran’s and another belonging to Hale - arriving at Stephens’ home about 15 minutes before the fire was set.

The video also shows Stephens placing a gas can in the back of Hale’s truck, which he later admitted to doing, according to arrest records.

Additional video footage shows Hale’s truck following Curran’s truck as they drove east on Fairfield Avenue S. about two minutes before the dumpster fire was set, police said.

When PCSO deputies tried to arrest Hale on several outstanding warrants Thursday in Largo, they blocked in his pick-up truck after he pulled into a parking space on Capistrano Court. He ignored orders to get out of his truck and “violently and forcefully” rammed it into law enforcement vehicles, allowing him to drive away, according to the sheriff’s office arrest records.

While fleeing from deputies, he drove behind an apartment complex and through several yards and fences before crashing into a nearby retention pond, the sheriff’s office said.

After the crash, a witness told the agency that they saw Hale throwing drugs and a gun from the passenger side window into the pond. The witness took video of him doing this and shared it with investigators.

Hale later told deputies that he drove away from them because he “didn’t want to go to jail,” records show.

During his arrest, drugs were found in his truck, including a bag of fentanyl in the center console and a container with crack cocaine on the driver’s side floor, according to arrest records. The agency’s dive team also recovered a bag with a methamphetamine and a gun from the pond.