Officers say man found in Lutz was slain

By AMY HERDY

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 24, 1999

LUTZ -- A man found dead early Tuesday morning by a passing motorist on Van Dyke Road in Lutz was the victim of a homicide, sheriff's officials say.

Sheriff's Cpl. Rick Figueredo said the victim, who has not been identified, was a white male in his 40s. The body, which was found about one-half mile west of Simmons Road, showed trauma above the waist, Figueredo said. He would not elaborate.

The man had not been dead long before he was found, he said, and probably has not been noticed by anyone to be missing before Monday night.

"He was killed recently," Figueredo said, "although we're not sure where he was killed."

A woman commuting to her job in Pasco County noticed the body at 7:20 a.m., he said, on the south side of Van Dyke.

The victim was found against the fence of an orange grove directly across from a pasture on a quiet stretch of road that many use as a cut-through from northern neighborhoods to Dale Mabry Highway. Figueredo said the man probably died some time after 5 a.m., and that sheriff's detectives are looking for anyone who may have noticed something in the area during the early morning.

While detectives searched for evidence on the roadway Tuesday morning, a nearby rooster crowed occasionally while residents were re-directed around the crime scene.

Todd Stairs, 29, who lives just a few yards from the crime scene, said his neighborhood was typically a peaceful one and that he was surprised it was being disrupted for such a reason.

"Most of it's all family out here," Stairs said, "and most of them are separated by two-plus acres, so it's real quiet."

Sheriff's officials are asking anyone with information to call them at (813) 247-8200.