PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Charlotte County deputies confirm they are investigating the death of 59-year-old James M. Gunter.
According to investigators, a maintenance crew working Wednesday morning in the Maria Manor condominium community off Tamiami Trail noticed a foul odor.
After walking the area, workers discovered Gunter's body behind the community entrance wall.
Throughout the day the forensics team, deputies, and the medical examiner arrived along with CCSO Major Crimes Unit.
"So the first things first the deputies they found a body in front of this community so they are going to check the community members to make sure everyone's accounted for...everyone is indeed accounted for so it's not a community member at this time we still don't know the identity."
When asked if the sheriff's office was checking to see if this male could be a missing person... "It could possibly be but we are still at the beginning of this investigation so once we do have that information we will relay that to the public. It's not believed to be anything suspicious at this time it's the beginning stages of the investigation," said Smith.
Even though the major crimes unit was here on the scene the sheriff's office tells us they do not believe this to be a suspicious death.
The Sheriff's Office also does not yet have an idea of how long the body has been here. The medical examiner will determine more of those details.
The investigation is ongoing as we continue to follow up with Charlotte County Sheriff's Office for more details.
The latest update from the Charlotte County Police Office is that they are awaiting for the autopsy results of Gunter to confirm his cause of death and that he was known to be homeless throughout the area.
