State agents are investigating whether the remains found near a dirt road in DeLand last month are those of a 16-year-old girl who went missing in Mount Dora days earlier.
"We are conducting an investigation," said Angela Starke, a spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "We are looking into whether there is a connection."
On April 13, Justis Garrett was dropped off at school and didn't return home, according to a flier posted on the Mount Dora Police Department's Facebook page.
Five days after Garrett's disappearance, joggers found a body near a dirt trail in the area of Gasline and Service roads and called 9-1-1.
DeLand police later came upon the partially clothed body. Due to the state of decomposition, Chief Jason Umberger guessed the corpse had been lying there for weeks or possibly months.
No wallet was found near the body and detectives were unsure of a cause of death, police said.
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