DELAND — The body discovered Wednesday night by some joggers near a dirt trail has been identified as female, but little else is known pending the outcome of the autopsy, according to police.
The body was found around 7:50 p.m. in the area of Service and Gasline roads, according to a DeLand police report. A witness told police he and his friends were going through a wooded area when they were overcome by a stench that he described as "the odor of death," the report stated.
Police said they found the body after calling a helicopter for assistance.
DeLand Police Chief Jason Umberger, during a media conference Thursday morning, said the preliminary investigation revealed that the body was female, but the level of decomposition meant detectives weren't able to determine anything else, including her race. He also said the woman was "partially clothed" when she was found.
"The body had been in the area for some time due to the stage of the victim's decomposition," Umberger said. He guessed the body had been lying there for weeks or months.
"There are more unanswered questions than there are answered questions," he said. "We ask for patience as we work to identify this person and to understand the circumstances of her death."
Umberger added that no wallet was found in the vicinity of the body. He also said detectives found no indication of how the woman died.
"It's a pretty remote area over there," Umberger said of the woods where the body was found, which are about a quarter mile from Gasline. "There's not a lot of homes and people around there, per se."
Anyone with information about a missing female is urged to call the DeLand Police Department at 386-626-7400. Those who would prefer to leave an anonymous tip may do so by using the agency's Crime Watch portal at www.volusia.crimewatchfl.com.