Michelle Haney, 51, is serving a prison sentence for abuse of a dead human body.
Haney, whose address on court documents was listed as general delivery in Anna Maria, pleaded no contest to the second-degree felony and Feb. 6 she was moved to the Florida Women’s Reception Center in Ocala.
She was arrested Dec. 9, 2020, on North Bay Boulevard in Anna Maria, accused of disposing of human body parts in a garbage can at a former residence in Bradenton.
A Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report said when Haney moved from an apartment in September 2020, she asked a neighbor to keep a garbage can containing personal belongings until she settled.
Two weeks later, the neighbor looked into the can because of a bad odor. Under blankets and clothes, the neighbor found trash bags containing body parts.
The MCSO said Haney then confessed that in July 2020 she arrived at her apartment to find the man with whom she was living, Jon Leonard, dead. She covered the body in a bedspread and placed it in the closet for three weeks, when she moved the body to the garbage can.
The MCSO said Haney collected Leonard’s government benefits check for months.
12th Circuit Judge Frederick P. Mercurio issued an order in December finding Haney guilty and placing her in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections for a 10-year term, with credit for 729 days already served in incarceration.
Haney also was sentenced to pay more than $800 in fees and earlier this month the state filed a motion for restitution.
Her current release date is Feb. 1, 2031.
— Lisa Neff