JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a body was found near the entrance of a Walmart on Beach Boulevard Saturday night.
JSO homicide investigators told us it is currently being classified as an undetermined death, meaning it’s too early to know if it was a murder.
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Officials said a person had gone down into the woods near the entrance to the Walmart on Beach Boulevard and came across the body.
JSO arrived on scene around 3:20 p.m.
“Upon arrival they located the individual inside the wooded area in a severe state of decomposition,” said Sergeant Robbie Henson with the JSO Homicide Unit.
Henson said it’s too early to tell how long the body had been there before it was discovered.
The deceased individual has also not yet been identified.
Officials did note that homeless individuals are known to frequent the wooded area.
While this hasn’t yet been deemed a homicide, Jacksonville has already seen seven since the start of 2022.
That’s compared to just four this time last year.
For shopper Edward Pacheco, the mere sight of the homicide team left him feeling uneasy.
We asked him if he felt the area was generally safe.
“To me yeah. Not now!” said Pacheco.
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Others, like Natalia James said while this incident is shocking, she still feels the area is generally safe.
“We just gotta understand that, you know, situations like this happen sometimes. We normally feel safe coming around here most of the time,” said James.
In all of last year, there were 128 homicides in Jacksonville.
If this year’s homicide trend continues at this pace, the city is set to eclipse 170 by the year’s end.
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