Headline Surfer® graphic / The locator map at left shows the area south of the 500 block of Osteen-Maytown Road where the body of a man was found floating in shallow water on Aug. 1, 2014. OSTEEN, Fla -- A body found floating in a water-filled pit on a Saturday afternoon on the first day of August turned out to be that of a homeless man who was spotted by a bystander.
The victim was identified as 56-year-old Robert Lewis Williams, a Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman said.
Witnesses said they saw Willims going into the shallow water, perhaps to cool off from the hot Florida sun the afternoon before.
"Williams (had) family who live close by where the body was found, but he had no known permanent address," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.
While there were no immediate signs of foul play, the Sheriff’s Office investigated any way and after the Medical Examine's Office ruled the cause of death accidental drowning, the VCSO closed its case.
A resident called the Sheriff’s Office at 12:30 p.m. athat Friday after spotting the body floating in the water, just south of the 500 block of Osteen-Maytown Road. The Sheriff’s Office’s Dive Team retrieved Williams' body and brought it to shore. Investigators believe his body had been there for 24 hours or so, Davidson said.
The tragic circumstances of Robert Lewis Williams' death comes in at No. 70 in the HeadlineSurfer.com recap of the top 100 local stories of 2014.
RECAP
The HeadlineSurfer.com Countdown of the Top 100 Local Stories of 2014...
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The Headline Surfer® Countdown of the Top 100 Stories of 2014, is sponsored by Edgewater Towing & Myron's Auto Service of Edgewater, FL. 