A 37-year-old Palmetto man has pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the disposal of a woman’s body in the Gulf of Mexico in December 2022, nearly four years after fishermen discovered her remains approximately 13 miles off Egmont Key.
Matthew Edward Zoladz pleaded guilty to violating the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act and the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, according to a November 3, 2026, announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. He faces a maximum of 15 years in federal prison and is scheduled for sentencing on January 20, 2027.
The victim was identified as 34-year-old Heather Rose Strickland, who was last seen alive on December 5, 2022, leaving HCA Florida Largo Hospital.
According to federal court documents, Zoladz and Strickland used drugs together on or about December 7, 2022, during which Strickland suffered a fatal overdose. Prosecutors reported that Zoladz subsequently drove around with Strickland’s unconscious or deceased body in the front passenger seat of his vehicle and recorded a video of her.
On December 8, Zoladz was scheduled to work as a deckhand aboard a commercial fishing vessel. Before the ship departed, he wrapped Strickland’s body in a plastic trash bag and brought it aboard. Later that evening, while the vessel was at sea, he dumped her remains into the Gulf of Mexico.
Two days later, on December 10, fishermen discovered Strickland’s body floating in the water approximately 13 miles west of Egmont Key. The discovery prompted an FBI investigation.
The federal charges against Zoladz concern the unlawful disposal of human remains at sea and pollution from a vessel. He has not been charged with homicide in connection with Strickland’s death.
The FBI investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abigail K. King and E. Jackson Boggs Jr.
