The Gulf swallowed another one. That’s what they’re saying down at the docks, the old salts and the weekend warriors. Heather Rose Strickland, 34, surfaced thirteen miles off Egmont Key last Saturday, wrapped like a discarded package in plastic and bedding. The Coast Guard found her, but they didn’t find answers. Just a body, bobbing in the cold December water, a grim punctuation mark on a story nobody seems to know. The FBI’s taken the lead now, a quiet desperation hanging over the Tampa Field Office.
Strickland wasn’t a ghost before she hit the water. She’d been living in the Clearwater-St. Petersburg area for five years, a transplant from up north. Last seen leaving HCA Florida Largo Hospital on December 5th. What brought her there, what sent her out again… those are the questions eating at the agents. She’s a white female, five-foot-five, and carries a couple of permanent markings: Old English script tattoos of “B” and “E” on the right side of her neck, and a rose blooming on the outside of her right thigh. Small details, maybe, but in this business, details are all you’ve got.
The official line is “suspicious death.” A polite way of saying someone decided Strickland wasn’t worth living. The way she was found, bundled and discarded, suggests a deliberate act, a cold calculation. This wasn’t a tragic accident; this was someone trying to make a person disappear. The FBI isn’t commenting on possible motives, but the silence speaks volumes. They’re combing through Strickland’s history, her connections, the last few days of her life, hoping to find a thread, a flicker of something that explains the darkness.
A substantial reward is being offered for information leading to the person or persons responsible for Strickland’s death. The FBI needs someone to break the silence, to come forward with what they know, no matter how small it seems. Someone saw something. Someone heard something. Someone knows who sent Heather Rose Strickland to a watery grave.
If you have any information regarding the death of Heather Rose Strickland, or her whereabouts prior to December 10th, 2022, contact the FBI’s Tampa Field Office immediately. Don’t wait for the Gulf to claim another victim. Your tip could be the one that finally brings someone to justice.
🔠Key Facts
| Full Name | Heather Rose Strickland |
| Charges | Suspicious Death International Waters off the Coast of Pinellas County, Florida December 10, 2022 |
| Aliases | None known |
| Date of Birth | June 14, 1988 |
| Race / Sex | white / Female |
| Nationality | Unknown |
| Height | 5’5″ |
| Weight | Unknown |
| Eyes / Hair | Unknown / Unknown |
| Scars & Marks | Strickland has a tattoo on the right side of her neck of “B” and “E” written in Old English Script and a Rose tattoo on the outside of her right thigh. |
| Location | Florida |
📋 Source: FBI Most Wanted — Heather Rose Strickland
If you have information about this fugitive, contact your local FBI field office or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
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