{"id":329157,"date":"2026-07-04T09:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T09:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/329157\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T09:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T09:24:10","slug":"florida-man-charged-after-womans-body-found-wrapped-in-blanket-in-hotel-room-wftv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/329157\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man charged after woman\u2019s body found wrapped in blanket in hotel room \u2013 WFTV"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 A Florida man is accused of killing a woman after an apparent altercation in a St. Petersburg hotel last week, authorities said.<\/p>\n

According to Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s Office online booking records, Paul Mason Stottler, 39, listed as a transient in Largo, was arrested on June 26 and charged with second-degree murder.<\/p>\n

In a news release<\/a>, the sheriff\u2019s office accused Stottler of killing Emma Mullins, 76, in a room at the Holiday Inn Express in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n

Police responded to the hotel at approximately 11:35 a.m. ET on June 25 after a Holiday Inn Express employee reported finding a deceased person in one of the rooms.<\/p>\n

According to the sheriff\u2019s office<\/a>, Mullins was found on the floor wrapped in a blanket with sheets, towels and clothes covering her.<\/p>\n

She was pronounced dead at the scene, WTVT<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

Investigators discovered bloodstains, overturned furniture and broken glass in the room, along with signs of trauma on Mullins\u2019 body, the sheriff\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

During the investigation, detectives learned that an altercation had taken place between Mullins and Stottler, WFLA<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

Video surveillance footage showed both Stottler and Mullins entering the hotel room, the sheriff\u2019s office said<\/a>. Several hours later, Stottler was seen on camera exiting the room while carrying several bags. He was also observed disposing the bags in a dumpster located in the hotel\u2019s parking lot.<\/p>\n

While searching the dumpster, detectives found three documents with Mullins\u2019 name concealed in an ice bucket, along with bedding and a pair of men\u2019s pants that were stained with blood.<\/p>\n

Stottler was subsequently arrested and remains in custody at the Pinellas County Jail.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 A Florida man is accused of killing a woman after an apparent altercation in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[133502,135281,4448,7917,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-329157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-emma-mullins","tag-paul-stottler","tag-pinellas-county-sheriffs-office","tag-second-degree-murder","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\/329157","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=329157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}