Sheriff Bob Gualtieri Holds Press Conference to Discuss Arrest of Two Men After Body Found in Alleyway (24-002)

LEALMAN – On January 12, 2024, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri held a press conference to discuss the death of 30-year-old Jillian Tully.

On January 8, 2024, deputies assigned to the Patrol Operations Bureau responded to the alley south of 3564 52nd Avenue North after a passerby located the body of a deceased woman. The body was wrapped in a white sheet and covered in a piece of cardboard.

Throughout the course of the investigation, detectives learned that at approximately 12:00 a.m. on January 8, 2024, the maintenance man for the Gateway Motel, 56-year-old John Yeckley, invited Tully into his motel room to do drugs. Yeckley smoked crack cocaine, and Tully injected fentanyl. According to detectives, Yeckley advised he fell asleep and when he woke up around 5:00 a.m., he found Tully deceased on the floor. Yeckley then recruited 41-year-old Michael Sloan to assist him in moving Tully’s deceased body to the alleyway where she was later found.

Sheriff Gualtieri discussed the fentanyl and opioid epidemic within Pinellas County and the state. He stated, “we need to be more effective with case management and driving these people into treatment and in the right direction.”

Yeckley and Sloan were arrested and charged with tampering with physical evidence. They were transported to the Pinellas County Jail.

The investigation continues.

Summary:

John Stuart Yeckley (Suspect – Arrested)
DOB: 02/07/1967
Address: 4990 34th Street N., St. Petersburg (Gateway Motel)
Charge: Tampering with physical evidence

Michael Allen Sloan (Suspect – Arrested)
DOB: 07/27/1981
Address: Transient
Charge: Tampering with physical evidence

Jillian Tully (Victim – Deceased)
DOB: 10/04/1993
Address: Transient