Man Arrested in Nearly 30-Year-Old Cold Case

A man has been arrested in connection to the death of Amy Rose Hurst, whose body was found tied to a cement block off-shore in the Gulf of Mexico more than 29 years ago.

William Gary Hurst, who was married at some point to the New Port Richey woman, was arrested in Kentucky, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday.

Amy Hurst’s body was found wrapped in an afghan and tied to the block 27 miles off shore in the Gulf in 1982. It was classified as a Jane Doe.

The body was exhumed in 2001 in an unrelated investigation and classified as a homicide by blunt force. In 2009, her son, Jeff Early, learned about the body and thought it matched the description of his mother.

In July 2011, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office announced that the body had been positively identified as that of Amy Hurst.

William Hurst, lives in Dawson Springs, Ky. Lisa Schoneman, the Pasco detective currently on the case, had interviewed him and others in Hopkins County, Ky., in her investigation.

He was indicted in Pasco County Thursday and arrested by the Dawson Springs Police Monday. He is fighting extradition, said Pasco Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Kevin Doll.