Florida missing-person case turns into homicide investigation, deputies say

A body found by boaters in the Peace River did more than trigger a recovery. It pulled a Florida missing-person case into a homicide and abuse investigation, with deputies now tying Joshua Cullen to the disposal, the deception and the money left behind.

Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell said boaters first spotted something large and submerged in the river in late March. When investigators recovered the remains, they found the body wrapped in carpet and weighted down with cinder blocks and chains, a concealment method that immediately pointed detectives toward a deliberate effort to hide the dead woman from view.

The case sharpened when Lee County deputies took a missing-person report from Cullen, 47, on May 25. Cullen told authorities he had been caring for his mother, that she had suffered a stroke, and that he had not seen her since March. He also offered conflicting explanations about where she might have gone, including claims that she had been hospitalized and may have left with an unidentified wealthy man. Investigators said the timeline did not hold up.

Digital evidence then started filling in the gaps. Detectives said license-plate-reader data placed Cullen’s vehicle near the disposal site on March 28, and they also tied a wheelbarrow secured to the roof of his vehicle to one found near the river recovery scene. Authorities further alleged that Cullen continued living in the home with his mother’s body, accessed her bank accounts and used some of her money to buy an RV while other belongings disappeared from the residence.

By June 4, the Charlotte County Medical Examiner had positively identified the remains as Cullen’s mother. Additional reporting said investigators believe he transported her body from Lee County to Charlotte County after she died inside the home. Lee County deputies arrested Cullen on charges of neglect of an elderly person and abuse of a dead human body, and he remained jailed on $50,000 bond while prosecutors continued sorting out the homicide-related questions, including the exact cause and date of death.

Charlotte County Sheriff Carmine Marceno described the case as one in which Cullen allegedly lived alongside his deceased mother’s body while carrying on with his life. Vivien Perez, identified as Cullen’s ex-wife, said she was heartbroken and that the victim did not deserve what happened to her. What began as a missing-person report now reads as a concealed death, a river recovery and a paper trail that finally put a name on the defendant.