ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Sheriff's investigators are trying to determine how a woman wound up dead in Lake Ruth(see map) just a couple of blocks from the University of Central Florida.
The discovery was made around 12:00 p.m. Sunday by someone passing by the lake, said Corporal Tony Brisinte of the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
"We are treating this as a suspicious death and we will know more once an autopsy is complete," Brisinte said.
It is believed the woman is white and in her fifties, Brisinte said. Her body was found approximately 15 feet from shore.
A sheriff's office dive team was called to the lake to look for clues. So far, they have come up empty handed.
Lake Ruth, lined with trees and thick brush, is close to UCF. It is near a business park off Corporate Boulevard.
"Well, yeah, of course it shocks me because I'm right over here in Pegasus Landing," said Elena Applebaum, a UCF student. "It's kind of crazy there's a body found in the lake right here by a student community."
Detectives questioned people at a homeless camp in the woods near the lake. People there do not recall a woman who has recently disappeared, Brisinte said.
Missing persons units in Orange and Seminole Counties have been alerted to the find.
The Medical Examiner's Office picked up the body. An autopsy is expected Monday, Brisinte said.
WFTV
