Carolyn Whitney Antrim was 42 years old when she was murdered. Her body was found in Warrington, Florida, more than 10 years ago, and the person responsible for her death has yet to be brought to justice.
In the late evening of July 20 or the early morning hours of July 21, 2007, Antrim, a mother of two, left her condo in Molino to visit a friend.
When a week went by and her family and friends hadn’t heard from her, they went in search of her.
When that was unsuccessful, her mother, Janet Antrim, contacted the sheriff’s office and reported Carolyn Whitney Antrim missing.
She also told authorities that Carolyn was last seen driving the family’s van.
An employee at the police station told Janet that she could not file a missing persons report because her daughter was an adult and suggested she report the van stolen instead.
Janet obliged.
Upon doing so, Janet ascertained that the van had been towed to a private wreck yard as an abandoned vehicle on July 21, 2007. When she got the van back, she noticed that there was blood inside the vehicle, which prompted her to contact the sheriff’s office again.
This time, her findings precipitated a search by law enforcement officers with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.
On July 28, 2007, Antrim was found dead. Search dogs discovered her decomposed body about 50 yards into a wooded area near Lola Street.
An autopsy determined that she died from blunt force trauma stemming from an attack and a sexual assault, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
Antrim’s autopsy also revealed that she suffered 12 injuries to her ribs and that her head was smashed.
Her mother told the media in 2008 that she was a tiny woman and that it would have been “nearly impossible to fight off an attacker, but she fought back real hard. The investigators could tell.” She added, “It’s hard to think about a person doing that to her.”
Lt. Ray Briggs with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office stated that DNA evidence was collected from the body in an effort to find the person responsible for murdering Carolyn Whitney Antrim.
Antrim’s murder went unsolved for more than 10 years before police got a break in the case.
On Aug. 27, 2020, police arrested a 54-year-old woman named Cheryl Denise Burgett, of Pensacola, Florida, in connection with Antrim’s murder. She was charged with suspicion of being an accessory after the fact.
Burgett was booked into the Escambia County Jail, where she was held on a $250,000 bond, according to ABC 3 WEAR-TV.
Although an arrest has been made, investigators are still classifying Antrim’s case as an unsolved homicide.
Anyone with information regarding the unsolved murder of Carolyn Whitney Antrim is encouraged to contact the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit at (850) 436-9580 or Crime Stoppers.
An award of up to $5,000 will be offered for information leading to an arrest.