Chris's Crime Forum

Possible Body Found Turns Out To Be Animal Bones

ORNAGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Police say a Crimeline tip leading them to the possible body of missing woman Tracy Ocasio turned out to be a false alarm.

Ocoee officers swarmed an abandoned animal barn in Winter Garden off Avalon Road Wednesday evening. They'd received a Crimeline tip that there was something in an industrial freezer on the site. The tip alluded to Tracy Ocasio.

Police found something wrapped in bags, smelling of ammonia in the freezer. A representative from the Medical Examiner's office opened the bags and determined they were full of animal bones, shortly after 10pm.

Tracy Ocasio disappeared May 26th after leaving a Metrowest bar with a man named James Hataway. Hataway has been called the main person of interest in her disappearance but has not been charged in connection with the crime. He is in jail on charges related to other crimes.

Ocasio's parents told WFTV.com Wednesday night they'd been notified of the discovery but did not want to comment, saying they'd been down roads such as this before.

http://www.wftv.com/news/20572682/detail.html?treets=orlc&tml=orlc_break&ts=T&tmi=orlc_break_1_07220108262009

Boot Found In Woods Could Belong To Missing Woman
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A boot could be a new lead in the case of an Ocoee woman missing for three months. Wednesday night, investigators told Eyewitness News they found one boot in some woods in Ocoee that they believe belongs to Tracy Ocasio.

For the first time, Ocoee police investigators revealed that they may have found a boot that belonged to Tracy Ocasio two days ago in Ocoee.

"We have recently found a boot. The boot was found in the wood line after a recent search," said Sgt. Mike Bryant, Ocoee Police Department.
Orange County deputies on horseback were conducting routine training near Highway 50 and Bluford Avenue (see map) in Orange County when they stumbled across the boot.

"The boot was shown to the Ocasio family, who distributed [pictures] to her friends, asking, 'hey, did Tracy ever have a boot like this?,' and one of the friends said, 'yes.'" explained Sgt. Bryant.

Beginning Thursday, Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory investigators will spend a couple of days analyzing the boot found in the woods. They plan on testing the boot for DNA evidence that could link it to Ocasio.

On Wednesday night, police received a Crimeline tip that a body might be inside a freezer on an abandoned property off Avalon Road in west Orange County. However, when investigators searched it, all they found were animal bones in some bags. The abandoned property was an animal farm where people would drop off their dying pets but it has not been in business for two years.

27-year-old Tracy Ocasio went missing three months ago. Police say the last person to see her was James Hataway. He is still being held in jail on unrelated charges.

http://www.wftv.com/news/20578666/detail.html?treets=orlc&tid=2658219508813&tml=orlc_9am&tmi=orlc_9am_1_08000208272009&ts=H

Tracy Ocasio

Ocasio Family Talks To WFTV About Missing Daughter

What happened to Tracy Ocasio? Five months after she disappeared, detectives still don't have enough evidence to charge their prime suspect with anything.

Tracy’s parents, though, are convinced James Hataway knows something and they opened up to WFTV reporter Kathi Belich to explain why.

Investigators say Hataway was the last known person to see Tracy alive when she gave him a ride home in May. Tracy Ocasio's car was found about 150 yards from James Hataway's house. Her last cell phone ping put her phone practically in Hataway's back yard. That was at 8:30am on the morning she disappeared when her mother called her to see where she was.

We just need a break in the case,” said Joe Ocasio, Tracy’s father.

Joe and Liz Ocasio admit they're obsessed with finding their daughter Tracy and finding out what happened, no matter what. Liz says she lies awake at night thinking she'll hear Tracy come in.

The Ocasios spoke with Eyewitness News exclusively about new information on even more inconsistent statements suspect James Hataway gave to police.

Hataway, the man recorded on video leaving The Tap Room in MetroWest with Ocasio in May the night she disappeared, told investigators two different stories implicating his sometime boss who also frequented The Tap Room. Hataway claimed his boss called him, then changed the claim of a call to an actual visit, to tell Hataway not to answer any police questions about his boss and Ocasio.

Police have ruled it all out.

“Everything comes full circle back to Hataway,” Joe Ocasio said.

Just in the last two weeks, a new video surfaced appearing to show Hataway and Ocasio at an Orlando nightclub five years ago, but it turned out not to be them.

Hataway is in jail on unrelated charges, one of them involving a violent attack on a woman. Police say they have investigated all other leads exhaustively and Hataway is still their focus.

http://www.wftv.com/news/21286124/detail.html

The man at the center of a high-profile missing persons case in Ocoee is moving closer to trial in a similar case in Seminole County.

James Virgil Hataway, 28, of Ocoee, is a person of interest in the case of Tracy Ocasio, 27. She disappeared May 27 after leaving a bar in MetroWest with Hataway.

Her car was found unlocked and abandoned a half mile from his home. Authorities have searched that home and the area nearby but don't know what happened to her.

Hataway has not been charged in that case, but after details about it became public, a Seminole County woman came forward and said Hataway had attacked her in August 2008 when they were alone in her car.

The woman said Hataway choked her, banged her head into the ground and tried to snap her neck after she hugged him.

He's charged with false imprisonment, battery and stealing her car keys.

At a hearing Thursday, Hataway's attorney and Assistant State Attorney Anna Valentini said they hoped to be ready for trial in early January.

Hataway is currently in the Orange County Jail, being held on a misdemeanor criminal mischief count.

Defense attorney Al Parsons Thursday asked that Hataway be moved to the Seminole County Jail. Circuit Judge Donna McIntosh said she'd sign an order, doing exactly that.

Hataway was not at the hearing.