Identified! FL - St. Petersberg, human head found on side of road, July 7, 2020 *Donald Edward Coston

TY for starting this thread, @cvaldez1975.


...discovered the head about 7 a.m. Tuesday on the side of 38th Avenue South west of 31st Street, ... in a grassy area between the sidewalk and the southern edge of the road, just west of the Interstate 275 overpass.

Snip


The jogger told police the head was not there when she passed by the area on Sunday. The woman said she did not pass by the area on Monday.
 
Decomposed Human Head Found By St. Pete Jogger: Police

this link sorta describes the neighborhood. could the head have been tossed from the overpass?

  • 38th Avenue South near 31st Street South by I- 275 overpass
  • street not heavily traveled...surrounded by woods
  • businesses along the street are closed
  • used as a traffic cut-through...the neighborhoods
img-2092-2___07092022155.jpg
 
Fla. Jogger Discovers 'Badly Decomposed' Human Head on Side of Road
  • difficulties determining the age, sex and ethnicity because of the current state of the decomposing body part
  • probably didn't die in the same location the head was discovered
  • "But it is a decomposing head, it's not like a skeleton
  • the incident likely occurred within the previous two days
 
Homicide detectives investigating after jogger finds human head near road in St. Pete
The area where the remains were found does not have any surveillance cameras and is not in direct view of many homes or businesses, according to detectives.
Snip
“I do a lot of walking and we have a whole community that walks around here so I’m surprised none of us came across it," Lee explained.
Snip
“We do have a wooded area on both ends so although we are in the center of the city, it occurred in a pocket where it is pretty hard to determine if anyone saw anything at all," Lopez added.
 
God, that's really gruesome. Whoever did this is an animal.
I agree but I'm starting to wonder whether this might be someone who was living in the wooded area. It could be he/she died of natural causes/sickness/overdose/etc. then animals scattered the remains. Although, homicide detectives were at the scene.:confused: Is it routine for them to go if there's no clear COD?
 
I agree but I'm starting to wonder whether this might be someone who was living in the wooded area. It could be he/she died of natural causes/sickness/overdose/etc. then animals scattered the remains. Although, homicide detectives were at the scene.:confused: Is it routine for them to go if there's no clear COD?

In my experience, yes. In my husband’s PD unit a homicide detective responds to all death investigations.
 
Yes, animal activity was my first assumption since it was found by someone who frequents the area and already in a state of what sounds like significant decomp. It could be helpful to know whether there is evidence of tool marks or animal teeth. Either way there aren’t many animals who are going to drag an entire head very far (I assume larger canines are about the only thing living around there that’ll go a few blocks or more with something that heavy... I don’t imagine that gators walk around the streets with large prey in their mouths...) - so I hope they’ve done a good 1/4 - 1/2 mile radius search for other remains. Could easily be remains of a transient if animals are involved, but if it is someone who was a victim of crime it would be best to locate more as quickly as possible.
 

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