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4th person arrested after woman's body found burned in St. Pete alley

Investigators linked a cell phone found near the burning body to 43-year-old Martellish Hale, according to an affidavit.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A 43-year-old man has become the fourth person arrested for setting a body on fire in a St. Petersburg alley in August, according to an arrest affidavit. 

Martellish Hale was charged with abuse of a dead body — the same charge 64-year-old Julie Heltman Curran, 30-year-old Cree Worley, and 42-year-old Jerrish Stephens are facing. 

Authorities say the four of them mutilated Heather Olmstead's body by lighting her on fire using a "flammable substance."

RELATED: St. Petersburg police identify burned body as 31-year-old woman

Credit: William Olmstead
Police identified the woman as Heather Olmstead

In the early morning hours of Aug. 18, St. Petersburg Police responded to a call of a fire in an alley behind Emerson Avenue South near 29th Street South. Authorities later said Olmstead's body was found next to a trash container.

At first, authorities were unable to identify the body due to the severity of the burns. Later, however, a fingerprint was used to positively identify the 31-year-old.

Video surveillance showed a white pickup truck driving away from the burning dumpster, the arrest affidavit noted. Investigators determined that the truck's license plate was registered to Curran. 

RELATED: Pinellas Park woman accused of burning body in St. Pete alley

RELATED: Second arrest made after body found severely burned in St. Pete alley

The court document says that the truck was seen with a black GMC pickup truck at a home on 10 Avenue South 16 minutes before the incident. It was determined that the black truck belonged to Hale and that Stephens lived in the home.

The arrest affidavit notes that Stephens was seen walking up to both vehicles and placing what appears to be a gas can in the bed of Hale's truck.

RELATED: Third arrest made after women's body found burned in St. Pete alley

Investigators were able to connect a cell phone found near the burning body to Hale, according to the affidavit. Hale is facing several felony charges for a prior incident in which he is accused of intentionally crashing into sheriff's detectives' vehicles.

Olmstead's cause of death has not been determined, according to authorities. 

Earlier this month, 10 Tampa Bay's Angelina Salcedo spoke exclusively with Olmstead's father. He told her she was working to turn her life around after getting out of jail a few months prior. 

"She had her issues and everything, but she was a good, kind-hearted person," William Olmstead said.

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