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Body identified as woman taken over by cocaine
By LEANORA MINAI
© St. Petersburg Times, ST. PETERSBURG -- Kelly Ostroski was a singer and ballroom dancer, but crack cocaine took hold of her life. Her body was found Sunday in an industrial area beside the Pinellas Trail. Investigators say the 30-year-old was shot elsewhere and dumped north of the intersection of Eighth Avenue S and 46th Street. "I knew some day that something would happen," said Ostroski's father, Donald Ostroski, 57. Over the past 12 years, he watched his daughter spiral into addiction. A boyfriend got her smoking crack cocaine. Then she turned to selling her body. "Kelly was a very intelligent girl, but she got hooked on drugs, and she could never get away from it," said Ostroski of New Port Richey. St. Petersburg police have no suspects in the killing, the 16th of the year. Homicide Sgt. Mike Puetz said Ostroski was last seen at 34th Street between Third and Fourth avenues S late Saturday, a few hours before her partly naked body was found. "She was talking to different people, hanging out," Puetz said. A man walking near the Pinellas Trail discovered the body at 12:32 a.m. Sunday and called police. Puetz said it is possible that she was picked up and then killed, though police are considering other scenarios. She did not have a purse or identification and was identified through fingerprints. Ostroski, who also worked as a waitress, had a long arrest record, including two charges this year for prostitution. "They put her in prison every time she got in trouble," her father said. "All they would do is lock her up instead of put her in a program." Ostroski talked with his daughter last month. She told him she was doing well, living on a farm in northern Florida. But her father knew she was making it up so he wouldn't hurt. "She could just grab a microphone and blast out a song and people would start clapping," her father said. "She could have done something with herself, but the drugs were too overpowering." Anyone with information may call Detective Carl Watts at (727) 551-3352.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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