Detectives Release Dead Woman’s Name
FIRST HARDEE HOMICIDE SINCE 2005
By JOE SEELIG

FORT GREEN SPRINGS — The Hardee County Sheriff’s Office released the name Thursday of a woman whose body was discovered Monday by an employee inspecting a Florida Gas Transmission Company pipeline, north of Fort Green Springs.

Sheriff’s investigators estimate the body of Holly Lynne LaFlower, 26, of Punta Gorda, had been there for about three to four days; about Jan. 19 or 20.

It was the county’s first homicide for the year and the first since 2005, when it recorded two.

Her body was found in a remote area, about 1,000 feet in from State Road 663 and State Road 664.

Investigators initially sought family members in Punta Gorda, but were only able to locate an ex-mother-in-law. That isn’t a close enough relative, Hardee County sheriff’s Maj. Claude Harris said Thursday.

“The family is in Vermont,” said Harris. “That’s why it took a while.”

LaFlower’s death is being investigated as a homicide.

The medical examiner has indicated her death was caused by trauma to the torso, Harris said.

Detectives are still trying to determine if she was killed at the scene or if she was killed somewhere else and her body dumped there, Harris said.

No vehicle was located near the body and LaFlower’s dark blue 1989 Mercury Cougar, with a Fla. tag, U72-OAH, is missing, Harris said.  The vehicle may have damage to the driver’s door, has a cartoon decal of Tigger on the back glass and some windows may be broken out.