Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Man is found dead at complex

The 25-year-old man's death is being investigated as a homicide, police say.

By ELENA LESLEY, Times Staff Writer
Published August 22, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Michael Scott Steele, 25, suffered upper body trauma, according to the Tarpon Springs Police Department.

TARPON SPRINGS - Wired from the first day of school, kids streamed into the Riverside Apartments Tuesday afternoon.

But childish taunting betrayed something abnormal about the otherwise typical scene.

"Don't go back there," the boys yelled as their friend peeled off from the pack, heading toward his home. "You're gonna die!"

The night before, a resident called police after finding a body lying on the sidewalk near the complex's tidy tan buildings.

Michael Scott Steele, 25, suffered upper body trauma, according to the Tarpon Springs Police Department. An official cause of death will be released once the medical examiner's report is complete.

Authorities could not say Tuesday why the New Port Richey man was in the Tarpon Springs complex or why he might have been killed.

They are investigating the death as a homicide.

"Detectives are running around," said Capt. Jeff Young. "They're following up on leads."

He said the police department gets a high volume of calls for service from Riverside, for everything from domestic disputes to illicit drug activity.

Inna Pakskina, who lives near where Steele's body was found, said she thought she heard a "boom" shortly before 10 p.m. while she was on her computer.

"I thought it may be a late fireworks explosion," she said.

She and other neighbors said they didn't know Steele, an Alabama native who sometimes worked construction.

"Everybody liked him," said Renay Steele of Decatur, Alabama, Michael Steele's stepmother. But she added that he was "a private person."

Michael Steele grew up in Decatur and Holly Pond, Ala., and received his graduation equivalency degree, she said.

Renay Steele said he loved sports and played basketball in high school. She said he would often call his dad while watching games on TV.

"He'd call and say 'They're winning! They're winning!'" Renay Steele said of her stepson, who always rooted for Alabama teams.

But when Michael Steele moved to Florida around three years ago, relatives heard less and less about his life.

He was arrested by the Tarpon Springs Police Department in March 2006 for possession of cocaine and marijuana.

Renay Steele said she was aware of the arrest, but she didn't know if drugs were an ongoing problem for her stepson.

"I'd like to think they weren't," she said.

She said that Michael Steele frequently called for updates about his two-year-old son, who was his "pride and joy."

"I would always tell him how much he was growing," Renay Steele said, her voice starting to falter.

"He'll never know his father."

Elena Lesley can be reached at elesley@sptimes.com or 727 445-4167.

[Last modified August 21, 2007, 20:38:23]