Dade City police identify body found in abandoned house

Police identify body found in empty house

Police have identified the woman whose body was found last month in an abandoned Dade City house, but they are still trying to figure out how she got there.

Using DNA evidence, police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement identified the woman as Penny L. Skipper, whose last known address was 38532 Cummer Road. Her badly decomposed body was found March 5 at 14735 Fifth St.

Family members in Tampa told police they had not had any contact with Skipper for the past 18 months. A Pasco sheriff's deputy conducted a field interview with her in October, but authorities don't know what happened to her after that.

Skipper was about 5 foot 2, with red hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information on her activities or whereabouts since October is asked to call Detective J. Conrad or Detective M. Mejias at the Dade City Police Department tip line at (352) 521-5604.