ELLISVILLE — A teenage girl has been identified as the murder victim found in a southern Columbia County field.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that the body found Sunday in a field near SW Haltiwanger Road near Ellisville was 18-year-old Coyoete Turner, of Lake City. Sgt. Steven Khachigan said there is not believed to be an ongoing threat to the community.
“Anytime we have something like this in our community, we want to apprehend someone responsible as quickly as possible,” Khachigan said Tuesday. “But there’s nothing at this point that says we have an ongoing threat to the community associated with this.”
He added he had no information about any potential suspects or leads in Turner’s death.
“I know the detectives are working as around the clock as possible and have been, but I have no updates on suspect information,” he said.
CCSO detectives are investigating the case as a homicide after saying Sunday that foul play was suspected.
Khachigan repeated Tuesday that some details surrounding Turner’s death are being withheld to “protect the integrity of the investigation.”
“There were some suspicious circumstances there, but it can’t be released just yet as far as the details to that,” he said Tuesday.
Detectives are asking that anyone who saw Turner in the past week to contact CCSO Detective Truesdale at 386-758-1375.
Turner’s body was found Sunday just before 11:30 a.m. The caller then showed responding deputies where the body was found and it was confirmed to be a deceased person.
“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family,” Sheriff Mark Hunter said in a release. “We will continue to work tirelessly until we are able to bring a successful closure to this case.”
Turner was reported as a runaway by the CCSO in November, only to be reported found safe a day later. She had also been reported missing or a runaway in Columbia County in February 2018 and from Cape Coral in August 2019.
Information about the case or Turner’s whereabouts the past week may also be reported anonymously through Crime Stoppers of Columbia County by calling 386-754-7099 or online at www.columbiacrimestoppers.net.