Man found dead in St. Petersburg after worried friend called police
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A man was found dead with upper body trauma Monday night inside his apartment, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.
St. Pete police identified the man Tuesday as 49-year-old Timothy Pustelak. Officials said they responded to the 10000 block of 11th Street North for a welfare check just after 7:30 p.m. Monday.
"The significant other that called it in was not within the state of Florida," Ashley Limardo, a spokesperson for the St. Petersburg Police Department, said. "This person was unable to get into contact with their significant others, and she tried for various hours and to no avail, to get into contact with him. Upon officers’ arrival, they located a deceased male victim on the floor."
READ: St. Petersburg man found lying in Pinellas Park ditch after deadly hit-and-run: Police
Darrin Proffitt lives above the unit the victim was found in.
"I interacted with him a couple times," Proffitt said. "Relatively friendly, so I'm surprised that would happen within his unit."
"Throughout the night, I saw a large number of police officers congregate right here in this area," Proffitt said. "Then they've been essentially standing outside the hallway since last night, and I woke up this morning, and they were still there."
Proffitt and other neighbors said they didn’t hear or notice anything out of the ordinary on Monday.
"I was really shocked to be honest. This area is pretty quiet," Proffitt said. "I am concerned. I do a lot of night running here, so I probably will be a little more cautious running at night. I probably won't be wearing my headphones while running anymore. But yeah, it's really concerning for something like this to happen in this apartment complex."
Proffitt said Pustelak lived in the unit with his girlfriend, and they recently moved into the apartment in the past month or two. Cameron Davis lives a few buildings away from the scene.
"It's completely unexpected for somewhere like this," Davis said. "I thought we were safe from that kind of thing, but I guess it's everywhere."
"Hopefully there's no sort of crazy pattern activity going on. I will definitely be staying closer to the house and making sure I keep my dog safe, [that] we walk out in daylight. But other than that, no, I mean, you can't really live your life in fear," Davis said.
Limardo said it was an isolated incident.
"We don't want the public to be in any fear or feel like their life is currently in danger," she said. "We are currently working on finding our suspects or getting an idea of who this might be, and we just want them to know that we are working on it very diligently."
She said detectives are asking the public for help. If anyone has any information, they’re asked to contact police at 727-893-7780. Those who want to remain anonymous can submit their tip to Tip411.
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