Authorities in Florida say a 47-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of killing her boyfriend last year and dumping his body in a camper.
According to WESH, 55-year-old Anthony Franklin Mitchell was last seen alive in August. Investigators believe his girlfriend, Penny Rebecca Pospisil, was responsible for killing Mitchell, dismembering his body and keeping his remains inside of the trailer housed at Wickham Park in Melbourne.
A Sumpter County Sheriff’s Office statement on Friday confirmed Pospisil was arrested in connection with the apparent homicide, which they believe occurred around the same period as the victim’s disappearance.
The suspect lived with Mitchell at the Lake Panasoffkee RV Village in Lake Panasoffkee at that time and acquaintances said she began discussing Mitchell’s recent death in the weeks that followed.
One nearby resident allegedly reported smelling an unpleasant odor emanating from the property during that period.
Police say Pospisil transported the mobile home to the Melbourne trailer park the following month. For about three months, Mitchell’s body was allegedly kept inside the structure — even as the suspect continued to move the camper at least two additional times within Wickham Park.
When the suspect’s rental agreement with the park expired, however, the body was reportedly discovered by police. Officers responded to the trailer to conduct a welfare check when the rental contract wasn’t renewed, according to WKMG.
Investigators say no one living in the park had previously reported any suspicious sighting in the preceding months.
After authorities entered the structure, they reported finding the dismembered and significantly decomposed body. Early indicators pointed to blunt force trauma as the likely cause of death.
Police reports indicate Pospisil was arrested on Friday in Melbourne. She is expected to face criminal charges including murder in the second degree.
[Featured image: WESH, video screenshot]