Woman died from drug overdose, cops said. Someone left her body on street’s dead end

A Bradenton woman died of a suspected drug overdose before her body was left alongside a road in East Manatee, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

A passing UPS driver found Katherin M. Jiles’s body on Friday afternoon in the grassy area at the dead end of 13th Avenue East near the southbound lanes of Interstate 75. The UPS driver alerted the sheriff’s office.

On Monday, an autopsy confirmed that Jiles died of a suspected overdose. Detectives had found drug paraphernalia at the scene.

Jiles, who had a history of drug abuse, would have turned 48 on Oct. 8.

The sheriff’s office had not released her identity until Monday afternoon because investigator were having difficulty in locating her next of kin.

“We are very much believing it was a drug overdose,” sheriff’s office spokesman Randy Warren said.

Toxicology results, which will take weeks, are needed to confirm that Jiles died of an overdose and what she overdosed on.

Detectives didn’t find any signs of trauma or foul play.

However, “We don’t know how she got there,” Warren said.

Jiles had publicly detailed her struggle with addiction for 20 years on her Facebook page. Her posts include mentions of heroin and how her addiction cost her custody of her son at least twice. According to her posts, Jiles also suffered from bipolar depression.

Local efforts have been made to educate the public that they are granted immunity under Florida’s “Good Samaritan Act” if they report an overdose. Neither the person who calls 911 nor the person overdosing can be charged or prosecuted for drug possession.

Among Florida high-schoolers asked about the Good Samaritan Act in the 2018 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey, Manatee County teens ranked the highest with 50.8 percent of those teens surveyed saying they aware of the law. The the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey is one of four surveys that comprise the Florida Youth Survey, an annual school-based multi-agency youth health behavior surveillance program coordinated by the Florida Departments of Health, Children and Families, and Education.

Anyone with information on the Jiles’ death can call the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office at 941-747-3011 or Crime Stoppers at 866-634-8477(TIPS).

This story was originally published October 1, 2018 at 3:42 PM.