ASHLEY NICOLE JUNG - 16 yo - St Cloud FL

Cops: Missing Girl May Be Body Found In Backyard

Dead Body Found In The Backyard Of Home

Posted: 6:36 am EDT June 24, 2011
Updated: 7:54 pm EDT June 24, 2011

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. -- The
St. Cloud Police Department believes that a body that was found in a
backyard of a vacant home Thursday night may be of a missing 16-year-old
girl.

AT THE SCENE: Images Of Yard, Officers

Investigators
said pending DNA results, they believe 16-year-old Ashley Nicole Jung,
was found dead and extremely decomposed in the backyard of a home at 817
Carolina Avenue. Investigators said don’t have any idea how the body
ended up in the backyard or how long it was in the Florida heat.
Janet
McCard lives next to the house where the body was found. McCard said
she could not pinpoint the smell until the police told her it was a
decaying female.
"To me it was just like, it was an odor of like maybe an animal,” said McCard.
On
Thursday night around 8:00, a neighbor found the body against a fence
while testing his new lawn mower on the abandoned property's backyard.
"It has been out there for a little while, we do not know how long,” said Sgt. Kirk Zilke of the St. Cloud Police Department.
Jung
was reported as a missing person by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office
on Memorial Day and has not been seen since, investigators said.
"My heart sank, my gut started hurting, and when that happens you know it is the truth,” said Mike McCoy, Jung's Grandfather.
McCoy
told WFTV that he came to the house where the body was found because
it’s in the same neighborhood where his granddaughter would hang around.
McCoy has been handing out flyers since she disappeared.
"I have been out almost every day, I have gone as far as Melbourne with this picture and have walked the beach,” said McCoy.
Police said they are waiting on DNA results to confirm if the dead body is Jung's.

Homicide investigators said a man, who was mowing a lawn at a vacant
home on Carolina Street in St. Cloud, found a decomposing body in
backyard. The Osceola County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed late Friday that the body is that of Ashley Nicole Jung. The
16-year-old girl was reported and listed as a missing person out of the
Osceola County Sheriff's Office. The girl’s grandfather, Thomas McQuay,
said his Ashley was last seen on May 30 and that investigators had
contacted the family, looking for information. "They called my
son-in-law wanting the dental records of her, because the body was
decomposing. It's been there for 2 to 3 weeks, maybe a little bit longer
and that's just when Ashley came up missing." McQuay told us
that his granddaughter was, “a sweet girl, she'd do anything for
anybody." He added, "I want the sucker who did this." A reward is being offered for information leading to the person responsible for this death. Call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/osceola_news/062411-body-found-in-st-cloud#ixzz1QOwiETsV

Dead teen runaway tentatively identified

County News

Wednesday, 29 June 2011 13:13

St. Cloud Police Department detectives continue to await confirmation and a cause of death on a tentatively-identified teenage runaway found in vacant backyard nearly a week ago. Ashley Nicole Jung, 16, was reported missing at 6:15 p.m. on June 3 by her father, Michael Jung, who last saw her alive May 30 at their home on the outskirts of St. Cloud city limits, Twis Lizasuain, Osceola County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, said. The case was turned over to SCPD after Jung’s body was identified, Lizasuain said, and the Sheriff’s Office had previously disclosed the case to St. Cloud detectives. Although DNA results, currently at the lab, will confirm Jung’s identity, the body was identified by Jung’s family due to clothing, jewelry and a tattoo found on the body, SCPD Sgt. Kirk Zilke said. Details about Jung’s personal belongings found at the scene were unavailable. “A lot of that is not being released yet,” Zilke said, adding her death is considered suspicious until a cause of death is determined. “This is an ongoing investigation.” Orange-Osceola County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia performed Jung’s autopsy and has yet to release a cause of death, Zilke said. The house where Jung was found June 23 at 819 Carolina Ave. in St. Cloud sits on a corner lot with a slightly overgrown yard, unkempt trees and boards covering some of its windows. Jung was known to hang out in the neighborhood and had an ex-boyfriend who lived in the area, Zilke said. “She hung out with trouble,” he said, adding Jung had a juvenile criminal history. Jung’s body was discovered by a neighbor who had recently purchased a riding lawnmower and planned to tidy up the vacant yard, Zilke said. The neighbor found Jung’s body behind the gate of a 6-foot-tall wooden fence enclosing the backyard. In response to the neighbor’s call, police responded to the home at approximately 8:15 p.m. and found her remains, which were described in a press release as decomposed. The two-bedroom, one-bath house, built in 1925, is owned by Hughette Crumpler, of Kissimmee, according to Osceola County Property Appraiser records. The backyard is surrounded by the weathered wooden fence with faded “Beware of Dog” signs and includes a large, cement-wall garage with a short, concrete driveway and a metal shed with a rusted lock on the sliding doors. According to neighbor Larry Linton, at 901 Carolina Ave., the home has been vacant for at least four months. “It’s been stinking for a while here; it smelled like something dead,” he said. “I didn’t think it was a dead body; I thought it was a stray cat. It’s weird, I feel unsafe in St. Cloud.” Linton’s pickup truck was parked less than 30 feet from where Jung was found. Linton, who moved to St. Cloud from Detroit in March, said the smell was prominent during a Memorial Day barbecue at his home with family and friends. Zilke stressed residents should call police for anything out of the ordinary, including odors. “Normally, if they smell a strong, suspicious odor, they should call,” Zilke said, adding no calls were made in reference to a smell on Carolina Avenue. “If they call us, we’re going to investigate.” While there are no active missing person cases in St. Cloud currently, Zilke encouraged families to quickly report missing children to authorities. “With children, you should report them missing within a few hours,” Zilke said. Authorities urge anyone with information about Jung or the case to contact Crimeline at 407-423-8477 or 1-800-423-8477. Callers can remain anonymous.