GIBSONTON — A Gibsonton man has been charged with premeditated murder after authorities found a body near his home last month.
Edgar Jose Martinez, 32, is accused of killing the person and leaving the body near his home in the 10000 block of East Bay Road, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies were called to that location on Nov. 29 after human remains were discovered on a property there. Martinez was arrested a week later at his home at 10626 East Bay on a charge of tampering with evidence in connection to that investigation. That arrest violated the terms of his pre-trial release on prior drug possession charges, so he was held without bail.
On Monday, authorities charged Martinez with first-degree murder, abuse of a dead body and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to release the name of the victim, citing its interpretation of Marsy’s Law, a state constitutional amendment designed to protect crime victims.