{"id":320978,"date":"2026-06-26T19:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/320978\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T19:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T19:12:15","slug":"76-year-old-woman-found-murdered-and-wrapped-in-a-blanket-in-a-florida-hotel-room-cops-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/320978\/","title":{"rendered":"76-year-old woman found murdered and wrapped in a blanket in a Florida hotel room, cops say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Evening<\/p>\n

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the US<\/p>\n

\"Evening<\/p>\n

An elderly woman has been found murdered <\/a>and wrapped in a blanket in a Florida<\/a> hotel room, according to police. <\/p>\n

The body of Emma Mullins, 76, was discovered by deputies at the Holiday Inn Express<\/a> in St. Petersburg late Thursday morning after an employee reported a dead person in one of the rooms, the Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s Office announced in a press release<\/a> Friday. <\/p>\n

Mullins\u2019 body was \u201con the floor of the room wrapped in a blanket with sheets, towels, and clothing on top of her in an attempt to conceal her location,\u201d according to the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Paul Stottler, a 38-year-old who allegedly got into a fight with Mullins before she died, was arrested in connection with her murder, according to authorities. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were blood stains, overturned furniture, and broken glass throughout the room with obvious signs of trauma to Mullins, according to the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Stottler, 38, was arrested in connection with the killing of Emma Mullins in St. Petersburg, Florida (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Stottler and Mullins were seen on surveillance video entering the room, but only Stottler was filmed leaving hours later, police said.<\/p>\n

He was then seen on video carrying several bags when he left the room, according to the sheriff\u2019s office. He then allegedly threw the bags in a dumpster in the hotel parking lot.<\/p>\n

Investigators allegedly discovered three documents with Mullins\u2019 name hidden in an ice bucket.<\/p>\n

They also discovered blood-stained bedding and a pair of men\u2019s pants during a search of the dumpster, according to the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Stottler was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. <\/p>\n

He was booked into the Pinellas County Jail early Friday morning and remains in custody as of Friday afternoon, according to official records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-320978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320978","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=320978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}