OKEECHOBEE —In the late afternoon of Sunday, July 30, 2023, the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office responded to a head-on collision in the area of 70 W. and the 3200 block (DeBerry Gardens Area) involving four vehicles. 

As a result of that crash, one occupant was pinned inside one vehicle and eventually transported to the hospital once fire rescue crews freed them.

That person indicated another vehicle occupant ran from the scene, heading into the DeBerry Gardens neighborhood. A search of the area was conducted, however they were unable to locate that person.

No indications of anyone else being involved existed before emergency services left the scene as all of the occupants, except the person that supposedly ran away were accounted for by everyone involved. 

Earlier this afternoon, while cleaning up items from the crash, tow company employees discovered a deceased body in the dense undergrowth halfway under a fence at the traffic scene. 

The body of the unknown person is believed to have been another occupant inside the vehicle that had the entrapment, and was ejected and died as a result of that ejection. 

Traffic Homicide investigators from the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office have now taken over the case and will investigate the death as a Traffic Homicide.