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Day care owner found dead

Gunshots were heard this morning at the home of Kathleen M. Atkins.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published April 25, 2006

	Missing woman turns up in Polk County (March 8)

CLEARWATER - A 44-year-old day care operator who disappeared from her Clearwater home in March only to surface a day later in Polk County was found today dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Authorities responded to Kathleen M. Atkins' house at 115 N Jupiter Ave about 6 a.m. Tuesday after receiving calls of gunfire, police spokesman Wayne Shelor said. Inside they found Atkins, pronouncing her dead a short time later.

Medical examiners were on the way Tuesday morning to examine her body, said Shelor, who added that police were not at this time looking for any suspects.

On March 6, Atkins was reported missing and endangered about 8 a.m. after a parent went to drop off his child at her home, police have said. The parent found the front door ajar, but no one answered.

There was no sign of a struggle. Her wallet and cell phone were still in the house, but her truck, a gray 2004 Dodge 1500 Ram quad cab with tinted windows, was missing, police said.

The next day, she appeared on the doorstep of a mobile home on State Road 33 near Lakeland, officials said. She asked for help, saying she had been kidnapped, and the resident called 911. Her truck was found nearby.

Atkins later told detectives that was she awakened early on March 6 when a stranger put a hand over her mouth. The man wrapped her in a blanket, picked her up and put her in the covered bed of a truck, she told detectives.

The man forced some pills in her mouth, she said. She went in and out of consciousness during what felt to her like a long drive in the truck. Eventually, the man stopped, opened the back of the truck and spoke to her in a non-threatening manner, she told detectives. She remembered him closing the top and walking away.

Atkins then wriggled free of the blankets and stumbled toward the mobile home in Lakeland.

Police had not developed any suspects in that case, which they had been continuing to investigate, Shelor said.

[Last modified April 25, 2006, 12:49:36]