PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — The body of a missing Pennsylvania woman was found earlier this summer in the Tampa Bay region, Pennsylvania State Police confirmed Wednesday.
Authorities had been searching for Jasmine Forbes since February. They zeroed in on Florida after learning the 31-year-old woman had traveled there.
On June 14, Pasco County Sheriff's Office deputies searched a property in the Shady Hills area, believing Forbes "may have been harmed." There, they found her remains. But, that development had been kept quiet until now.
Pennsylvania State Police classified Forbes' death as a homicide and have been working with Pasco deputies to determine what happened to her.
Forbes' disappearance had been an unexplained piece of a puzzle almost a thousand miles away, according to CBS affiliate WHP-TV. Though, many questions remain unanswered.
As the TV station explains, she vanished the same February day when the bodies of two men were found at a house that had been set on fire in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. An autopsy revealed they'd been shot to death before the fire began.
In March, the CBS station says brothers Larry and Cordaryl Burns were charged with the murders of the two men from the fire. Citing court documents, the station previously said Larry sent texts searching for Forbes before she vanished.
But, it's unclear what happened afterward.
10 Tampa Bay obtained a police criminal complaint in the Pennsylvania double homicide case, which sheds some light on what happened in Pennsylvania but does not explain how Forbes died.
According to the affidavit, Larry and Cordaryl Burns conspired to kill Frankie Thomas and Thomas' uncle Eddie Shaw. On Feb. 23, Shaw was found dead inside the burning home, and Thomas was found dead in a luxury car in the driveway.
Shaw had been shot in the head. Thomas was shot in the head and neck.
A loaded pistol, with Shaw's blood on it, was found in a field across the street. Two spent shell casings were discovered in the driveway.
Detectives canvassed the Pennsylvania neighborhood, looking for any information they could find. They interviewed neighbors and determined a van had been spotted nearby around the time of the fire. The affidavit said a search of law enforcement records determined the van had previously been linked to a drug investigation involving Thomas and Jasmine Forbes. Both lived at the home that was set on fire.
Authorities say they learned Larry Burns had allegedly put a $50,000 bounty on Thomas over Forbes, whom he was reportedly interested in romantically. Larry believed, according to the affidavit, that Thomas was hiding Forbes from him.
Larry Burnes allegedly sent Facebook messages referring to the bounty and threatening "a whole lotta motherf---er will not live" if Forbes was not returned to him, according to law enforcement. Further messages between him and Forbes suggested he wanted her to come see him.
The day of the double homicide in Pennsylvania, another person who had lived at the home told police she had received a text from Forbes that said "Omg koo koo bird is here" – which investigators determined was an apparent reference to Larry. The affidavit said Forbes had previously described him as "crazy" and "dangerous."
But, it's unclear where Forbes may have been during the shooting and subsequent arson. What is clear, police say, is that surveillance video from Feb. 24 – the day after the double homicide – showed both Larry Burns and Jasmine Forbes at a gas station in Ghent, West Virginia.
Detectives are actively trying to figure out what happened next and how Forbes ended up dead in Florida.
As of Wednesday, neither Burns brother had been charged in connection with Forbes' death. Anyone with information surrounding her death is asked to contact the Pasco Sheriff Crime Tips Line at 1-800-706-2488 or PascoSheriff.com/tips.