{"id":203268,"date":"2026-03-24T01:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203268\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T01:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T01:33:08","slug":"unsolved-florida-24-years-since-the-murder-of-jean-ault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/203268\/","title":{"rendered":"Unsolved Florida: 24 Years since the murder of Jean Ault"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – On March 23, 2002, the peaceful waters of Coquina Key Park<\/a> became a crime scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The body of Jean Ault, a retired state employee and beloved aunt, was discovered among the mangroves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She had been bound and beaten.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

Ault was an active woman who loved gardening, tennis, and volunteering at national parks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was last seen alive by a neighbor just before noon on a Thursday, returning a book and preparing for a camping trip to Manatee County<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pictured: <\/p>\n

When she failed to show up at the campsite, friends reported her missing.<\/p>\n

Police later recovered her camper van at an apartment complex on 54th Avenue South.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The only item missing from her belongings was a Huffy-model bicycle.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

The case was the first homicide assignment for Mike Kovacsev, who is now the Assistant Police Chief for the St. Petersburg<\/a> Police Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, the brutality of the crime against a “true victim” stunned the Lakewood Estates community.<\/p>\n

“I would almost think the person to be dang near an animal to do something like this,” Jack Stubendick, her neighbor at the time, said.<\/p>\n

\"Pictured: <\/p>\n

Pictured: Jean Ault’s van. <\/p>\n

Detectives established a narrow timeline for the murder, believing Ault was killed shortly after noon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One prevailing theory is that she startled a “would-be burglar” in her garage while loading her van.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The killer then took her, and her vehicle, to the locations where they were eventually found. Because the crime scene, the body, and the abandoned van all sit within a small radius in South St. Pete, investigators believe the killer likely had strong ties to that specific area.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

While robbery was a suspected motive, Jean\u2019s nephew, Peter Forcinito, recalls a “red flag” from the year prior to her death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He says Jean, a brave woman who served on the neighborhood crime watch, had mentioned being harassed by certain neighbors to the point of considering a move.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

While investigators looked into those leads, they ultimately hit a dead end.<\/p>\n

“Her life was much more exciting and beautiful than the way she died. We certainly can’t give up,” Forcinito said. “There’s still hope out there.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the last year, Detective Wallace Pavelsky authorized new DNA testing on evidence from the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Everybody wanted justice for Ms. Ault, and unfortunately, so far we haven’t been able to do that. It’s a true mystery,” Kovacsev said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While those tests have yet to yield a definitive match, the department remains hopeful that advancing technology will eventually provide the breakthrough they need.<\/p>\n

Jean’s daughter and sister have since passed away without seeing an arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What you can do:<\/p>\n

Peter Forcinito is now offering $10,000 for any information that leads to closure.<\/p>\n

\"Pictured: <\/p>\n

Detectives are asking the public to think back to March 2002.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you remember seeing Jean\u2019s camper van near 54th Avenue South or have information regarding a missing Huffy bicycle from that era, you are urged to contact the St. Petersburg Police Department. Tips can be made anonymously.<\/p>\n

The Source: FOX 13’s Genevieve Curtis gathered information for this story with updates from the St. Petersburg Police Department as well as the victim’s family member.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County<\/a>St. Petersburg<\/a>Unsolved Florida<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – On March 23, 2002, the peaceful waters of Coquina Key Park became a crime…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[47,115,1157,202,204,203,199,201,200,88216,628],"class_list":["post-203268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-fl","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-unsolved-florida","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}