Body found in trash can at Bradenton home was part of a Social Security scheme, cops say
A decomposing body found inside a trash can at a Bradenton mobile home park was part of a Manatee County woman’s scheme to collect a dead man’s Social Security money, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
The gruesome discovery was made at Windmill Manor, an age-restricted retirement community at 4920 Windmill Manor Ave., Bradenton. A resident of the mobile home park reported finding the body to law enforcement on Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators have since identified the body as Jon Christopher Leonard, 40, a resident of the mobile home park. Deputies have also arrested his former roommate, Michelle Haney, 48, on a charge of abusing a dead human body.
Detectives say that Haney admitted to finding Leonard dead inside of his home in the 5000 block of Windmill Manor Avenue in July. Rather than reporting the discovery to authorities, Haney moved the body to a closet, the sheriff’s office said.
About three weeks later, she packed the body into a 55-gallon trash can, sealed it and took it to a neighbor’s home. She asked the neighbor to look after the trash can until she could come back to pick it up.
The neighbor told the sheriff’s office that he had been storing the trash can in his carport for about two months and believed that it contained personal belongings. He told investigators that he decided to open it on Tuesday. Immediately upon opening the can, he was greeted with a foul odor.
The sheriff’s office confirmed there was a badly decomposed body inside.
Haney admitted to detectives that she hid the body so that she could use Leonard’s Social Security benefits. Additional criminal charges against Haney are likely to be filed, according to the sheriff’s office.
Leonard’s cause of death was still unknown on Wednesday afternoon, according to the sheriff’s office, but the results of an autopsy were pending.
Residents react to discovery of body
Before Haney’s arrest, residents of the quiet mobile home park in East Manatee were still in shock after the discovery of the body early Wednesday. Although unwilling to give their names, they were willing to talk.
One said he never saw anything out of the ordinary at the home on Windmill Manor Lane.
“It’s shocking,” another neighbor told the Bradenton Herald. “It shows that this kind of thing can happen anywhere.”
Two other neighbors said the park is a quiet community and there have never been any issues. One of those neighbors arrived home from work about 6 p.m. Tuesday and said law enforcement was still on scene, but he did not hear about what happened until much later.
“I’ve lived here for over five years and there has never been any problems,” he said.
A woman walking her dog said the situation, “is very sad. It’s very nice in this community, but you never know what can happen.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 9:28 AM with the headline "Body found in trash can at Bradenton home was part of a Social Security scheme, cops say ."