Bradenton corpse found in apartment identified as Eric Span, shot in the head

No suspects, no motive and no real leads in the ongoing investigation in Bradenton, Florida after a decomposing body was found in an apartment.

The body of Eric Span, age 38, was found by his landlord after neighbors reported a strong smell emanating from the apartment; so strong, the odor lingered in the air days later.

“I mean you can still smell the smell now, even though they [already] took the body out,” neighbor Eddie Silva said.

Silva and his family heard a commotion in the early morning hours the previous Wednesday.

“But it was gun shots,” Kristian Rayburn, who also lives right next door, said. She heard a “pap, pap, pap” and then “the music kept getting louder and it would turn up more and more.” They thought Span was having some type of party, but knew something just wasn’t right. “He was a good person,” said Silva. “He liked to feed the hungry. He was going to church. He wanted to change his life around.”

Tajuana Opene, Span’s sister, said she thinks her brother died last week, but it took nearly five days to find his body because Span’s wife had been out of town. Opene said her brother was shot in the head, but police did not confirm her account.

The Bradenton Herald reports Span’s mother, Patricia Uzzle, is now mourning a second slain son.

In 1997, Uzzle’s son, Reco Simmons, was shot to death inside a car in Bradenton. Lennie Smokes of DeLand was convicted in that case.

 “I brought five into this world, two at one time,” Uzzle said, referencing Span, 38, and his twin sister, Erica. “I don’t feel anger. I feel deprived. I was the one supposed to go first.”

Silva and his family heard a commotion in the early morning hours the previous Wednesday. “But it was gun shots,” Kristian Rayburn, who also lives right next door, said. She heard a “pap, pap, pap” and then “the music kept getting louder and it would turn up more and more.” They thought Span was having some type of party, but knew something just wasn’t right. “He was a good person,” said Silva. “He liked to feed the hungry. He was going to church. He wanted to change his life around.”