Background: News footage of the scene in Pace, Fla., where Danika Troy’s body was found (WEAR). Insets (left to right): Mitchell Eddins and Danika Troy (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office).
Another person has been arrested in connection with the death of a Florida teenager whose body was found burned in a wooded area.
Mitchell Eddins, 45, was the one who reported to law enforcement that he found a dead body in the woods, but police said he took too long. In an arrest report reviewed by Law&Crime, police said that they made contact with Eddins after midnight on Dec. 3 after he called them to report that he found a dead body, later confirmed to be the body of 14-year-old Danika Troy.
According to police, Eddins waited hours to make the call, but authorities say he should have reported the discovery immediately. Eddins also allegedly took a scooter believed to have been Troy’s, earning him another criminal charge.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Police said Eddins first found Troy’s burned remains while walking along a wooded trail in Pace, Florida, on Dec. 2 around 1 p.m. According to the arrest report, he stopped to relieve himself when he noticed that the area had been burned. He also saw a black scooter. When he allegedly went to take the scooter, he saw that there was a dead body in the burned area.
Eddins then allegedly went back home with the scooter. According to the arrest report, he told several people about the dead body that he saw, and they all advised him to notify law enforcement. When police asked Eddins why he never called them, he told them that “he planned to.”
Police found Troy’s scooter in a “back room” at Eddins’ home.
As Law&Crime previously reported, two teenagers are charged with murdering Troy. Police said that 16-year-old Gabriel Williams and 14-year-old Kimahri Blevins lured Troy out to the woods, shot her multiple times, and burned her body. Troy was last seen alive on the night of Nov. 30.
According to arrest reports obtained by Law&Crime, a witness told police that Blevins and Williams planned to kill Troy after she insulted Williams on social media and blocked Blevins’ account.
Eddins was charged with failure to report a death and petit theft, both misdemeanors. He was booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail, where he is being held on $7,500 bail. His next court date is on Dec. 16.
