Wednesday's search of ponds, storm drain leads to discovery of body parts

Investigators think they might have found the remains of Susan Fast.

It was a grisly scene, with divers from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office throughout the day Wednesday removing a woman's body parts from a storm drain and a retention pond behind a Publix grocery store.

But officials stopped short of saying that the search is over for the 60-year-old Fast, who was reported missing June 30.

"Detectives are checking dental records and working with the medical examiner's office to identify the remains. Based on GPS tracking information, there is reason to believe this could be the body of Susan Fast," Sheriff Brad Steube said in a news release late Wednesday afternoon.

Confirming the identity of the remains, which could include DNA testing, could take a week to 10 days.

Fast was reported missing from her Tara home June 30, and investigators have been searching areas indicated on the location-positioning device on her 2008 Lexus sport utility vehicle.

Steube said the GPS unit led detectives to the retention ponds behind the Publix off Town Center Parkway, along with several other locations.

The retention ponds were on the list of places sheriff's investigators were checking out.

"As the divers walked around the pond shortly after 8 a.m., they saw a partially submerged black garbage bag," Steube told a swarm of media personnel who descended on this usually bucolic neighborhood.

He said the bag contained body parts.

'We have an entire body'

The discovery startled employees at the nearby shopping center.

Standing behind the register at Coastal Liquors & Fine Wines, Sarah Scott's hands began to shake and her voice started to crack as she thought about the crime scene directly behind the store.

"I guess I was a little naive," Scott said, trying to smile as her face became flushed. "I saw the big van out back and thought they were having a blood drive. And then I found out that they were looking for a body."

After the initial discovery, divers began a methodical grid search of the 2-acre pond, plodding through the murky waters as they felt the bottom for more evidence.

Several deputies were dispatched to stand around the pond in the hot, midday sun, protecting the crime scene, which was taped off with yellow plastic ribbon.

Reporters, photographers and videographers from local print and television news outlets loitered around, waiting for any sign of a new discovery.

About 1:30 p.m. investigators discovered some items in a storm-water drain in the alley behind the Publix, about 30 feet from the pond.

A piece of heavy machinery arrived to remove the heavy concrete slab covering the drain, giving the investigators a clear view into the 6-foot-deep drainage box.

Two divers in wet suits, but without their air tanks, went into the drainage box, as about a dozen crime scene technicians and investigators gathered around, bending over to peer into the drain.

The divers were handed empty plastic bags. Moments later, the bags were hoisted back to the pavement, with something bulky inside. Shortly afterward, thick canvas straps were attached to the huge front-loader and a wooden pallet covered with a plastic sheet was hauled out of the drainage box.