Apopka police find woman's body left behind plaza dumpster while shops were still open

APOPKA, Fla. - Apopka Police are investigating after a woman’s body was left behind a dumpster in the Wekiva Riverwalk Shopping Plaza. 

Police say they received a call about the body around 8:45 p.m. on May 7. A lot of the businesses in this plaza are open until 8 or 9 p.m. and some are open even later. That means there would have still been people in the plaza when the body was dumped.

Over a week after the body was found, there are still signs that may have been left behind from the investigation, including gloves and shoe coverings often worn by crime scene investigators.

People working in the area were shocked to hear the news.  Jean, a trainer at Hit Fit Apopka, said he found the story so surprising, he barely believed it.

"This just does not seem like the area something like that would happen," he said. "There’s a gym here, you have people shopping."

Helen Ojeda, a server at Heber’s Cuban Café in the plaza, said she had never thought about something like this happening in the area.

"It was scary, because I was here," said Ojeda. "That’s when I work, so I was nearby when all that happened."

Most people FOX 35 News spoke with hadn’t heard about what happened, but word about the crime had spread around a barbershop in the plaza. Eddy Sanchez works at In & Out 2 Barbershop and Salon. He says he heard there had been a lot of police activity through the dawn after police found the body.

"It was scary to know that back there something happened like that," said Sanchez.

He said, even though police don’t think the woman was killed in the plaza, it’s still scary that her body was left there.

"I don’t want to park back there anymore. I parked out front from that moment on."

There aren’t many security cameras in the area, but police did catch someone on video who they think might be a witness.

Investigators are asking that person to give them a call and hopefully help out with the investigation. They added that they do not think there is any continued risk the public relating to this.