Female Body Found On Remote Road

WEEKI WACHEE - The body was found among the short trees and prickly underbrush that border a desolate stretch of dirt road.

Someone who lives nearby dusty Atlanta Street discovered her about 30 feet off the road around 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Deputies showed up, then detectives. They deduced she had been dead for more than 24 hours, but her demise was recent. Authorities in neighboring counties were notified.

Someone with the Citrus County Sheriff's Office phoned in and said that body matched the description of a missing person in their county. Her name is Janet Wing.

By press time Wednesday, investigators had yet to officially announce Wing, 74, is the deceased. But they did give out some details about the Beverly Hills resident.

Her son was the last person to talk with her on Saturday night. He couldn't get a hold of her after that, so Citrus deputies went out to check on her Tuesday night.

She was nowhere to be found and the conditions found at her home raised the suspicion of deputies, according to a press release.

On Wednesday, her name was entered into the national missing persons' database and missing person fliers were posted in the area. Then the body was found.

Thursday morning, investigators had cordoned off a majority of Atlanta Street, well north of Weeki Wachee, off Commercial Way, with crime scene tape. Forensics technicians could be seen in the distance carting tubs of evidence.

"There are certainly a lot of unanswered questions," said Gail Tierney, spokeswoman for the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

Some answers will probably be revealed after the medical examiner finishes an autopsy. That should help establish how the woman died.

Having those details will also help decide whether it's a confused adult who wandered away or someone who was killed.

As Tierney puts it, that "will change the direction of the investigation."