SEMINOLE - Authorities are investigating the death of a woman found Wednesday near the Pinellas Trail.
"She was completely nude and dumped on the side of the road," said sheriff's Detective Tim Goodman.
Leslie Ann Scileny, 38, was found about 10 a.m. The cause of her death had not been determined Wednesday, but detectives were investigating it as an apparent homicide. An autopsy is scheduled for today.
Scileny apparently had no permanent home address in the area, but she frequented the Seminole, Bay Pines and Madeira Beach areas, investigators said. She had recently been sentenced to a year of probation for petty theft and writing bad checks.
A man walking his dog discovered Scileny's body next to Leach Road, a quarter-mile from Seminole City Park, where children were enjoying their first day of summer vacation.
David Rowland, who trims bushes and mows grass on the Pinellas Trail, said the man crossed 118th Street and told him he had found a body. Rowland said he walked around the woman to see if she might be alive. He called 911.
Residents of the neighborhood were shocked. "That's not the kind of thing you expect to see here," said Bob McGinnis, who has lived in his home about 20 years.
The neighborhood, in unincorporated Pinellas, has large homes, huge oak trees and the occasional crow of a rooster.
On Wednesday, bikers and walkers on the trail stopped and asked questions. "You always hear about these things happening, but you never expect it to happen so close to home," said Jessica McCall, walking her poodle, Romeo, on the trail. Anyone with information about Scileny was asked to call sheriff's Detective Tom Kline at 582-6438 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS.
