Woman’s Body Found In Gulf Waters Off Pinellas County: FBI

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — A woman’s body was found Saturday in international waters off Pinellas County, according to a news release from the FBI’s Tampa office.

The victim was identified Friday as 34-year-old Heather Rose Strickland, the FBI said. The agency has classified the investigation as a “suspicious death.”

Fishermen found her body wrapped in a trash bag and floating in the Gulf of Mexico near Egmont Key National Wildlife Refuge, according to reports.

St. Petersburg police and the U.S. Coast Guard initially responded to the call around 1:30 p.m., WTSP said.

Strickland was last seen Dec. 5 when she left HCA Florida Largo Hospital, according to WFTS.

Though she’s initially from North Florida, she’s lived in the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area for the last five years.

Her parents told WFLA that their daughter struggled with mental illness and drug addiction. Her father, John Strickland, said that she was experiencing “a tough time.”

He added, ““We love her very much. She was a kind person. She had some problems with mental illness, but she was a kind person, and no person deserves that.”