Okeechobee County - Tuesday August 1, 2023: In Okeechobee on Monday afternoon, tow company employees cleaning up debris from a four-vehicle collision the day before, discovered a dead body in dense undergrowth near the scene of the crash.
The head-on collision occurred in the late afternoon of Sunday July 30, in the Dew Berry Gardens area along the 3200 block of State Road 70 West, just east of Okeechobee.
According to a release from the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) an occupant was pinned inside one of the vehicles and had to be extracted by the fire and rescue crew. That person was rushed to the hospital, however they were able to tell first responders that another person in their vehicle had gotten out, and run towards the Dewberry Gardens neighborhood.
A search of the area around the crash was conducted, but no one else was found.
The Sheriff says all of the occupants of the four vehicles involved were accounted for, "except the person that supposedly ran away" and there were "no indications of anyone else being involved ... before emergency services left the scene."
The body discovered by the tow company crew Monday is now believed to be that missing other person who appears to have been ejected from the vehicle and died as a result, according to the Sheriff's statement.
Traffic Homicide investigators from the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office are investigating the death as a Traffic Homicide.