Fort Pierce is waking up to some really heavy news today after a local crew made a discovery that no one ever wants to find. A woman’s body was spotted Tuesday morning drifting in the water, and the person found has been identified as 33-year-old Sunkiss Berries. It is a tough pill to swallow for a town that feels more like a big neighborhood than a city.
The whole thing started just before the workday really kicked off, around 8 a.m. The folks over at Sea Tow were out doing their jobs in the Turn Basin area, right there between the north and south bridges. They were the ones who saw something wasn’t right in the water and called it in immediately. It is the kind of call that stops everything in its tracks.
Local police and rescue crews were on the scene in a heartbeat to start the somber work of bringing her in. Investigators spent a good chunk of the morning combing through the area and looking for any clues that might explain how Sunkiss ended up there. So far, the authorities are playing things close to the vest and haven’t said how long she might have been in the water.
Sunkiss was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, and seeing her name in the headlines like this has hit the community hard. People are already taking to social media to share stories and offer up prayers for her family. It is clear she had a lot of folks who cared about her, and the shock of her passing is spreading fast through the docks and diners.
Right now, everyone is waiting on the St. Lucie County Medical Examiner’s Office to do their part. They will be performing an autopsy to figure out exactly what happened to her. Until those results come back, there are more questions than answers, and the police are treating this as an active investigation to get the full story.
Detectives are busy trying to piece together a timeline of where Sunkiss was and who she was with before she went into the water. They are asking anyone who might have seen something weird or out of place near the waterfront to speak up. Even the smallest detail could be the thing that helps her family get some closure.
It is a sad day for Fort Pierce as we wrap our heads around losing someone so young. The waterfront is usually a place for fishing and enjoying the breeze, but today it is a crime scene and a place of mourning. We are all holding our breath for more updates as the police continue their work to find out the truth.
