Manatee deputies still don’t know whose body they found. Can this shoe identify them?
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is still trying to identify a “badly decomposed body” that deputies found in Miguel Bay south of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over the weekend.
Deputies say that a sneaker is one of the only items they have that might help identify the person.
The sheriff’s office said the body was first spotted by a boater on Saturday in shallow water near Rattlesnake Key. The sheriff’s office recovered the body Sunday morning along the shoreline of the island.
In an update on Tuesday, the sheriff’s office shared a stock image of a black and neon green Nike Free Trainer. The shoe found with the body was a men’s size 11, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators say they also found a white, ankle-high athletic sock.
“This information is being shared with law enforcement agencies statewide,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “As of this writing, there have been no matches to missing person cases.”
The sheriff’s office said that an autopsy by the Medical Examiner’s Office on Monday could not determine the person’s gender or ethnicity.
“Due to advanced stages of decomposition, further testing is also necessary to determine age and to gather DNA,” the sheriff’s office said.
Anyone with information about the case can contact the sheriff’s office at (941) 747-3011.
