32-year-old Katrina Burlingame was brutally killed in Tampa during the early morning hours of October 24, 2018.
According to Hillsborough County Sheriff, Burlingame was last seen on surveillance video at a local 7/11 convenience store arguing with another person.
The two left the store, and that was the last time Katrina was seen alive.
More than a day later, her body was found in the backyard of a home that was being shown to a potential renter.
In a podcast interview, with Hillsborough County Sheriff Detectives in 2020, Nichole Burlingame, the victim’s sister, said, “She’s always been like a very big-hearted person and would just light the room up when she walked in, and would always make anybody laugh. Even if you were having a bad day, she would say something funny and take your mind off of things. She was always really good for that.”
When asked what she would say to anybody that may have information that would result in a resolution, in this case, Burlingame said, “Just to not be afraid to speak, and just knowing that if we could have justice for her that would be the kind of closure that we need. Not only for myself, but for our family and for the children, for her kids, just knowing that justice was served for her and that somebody is paying for what they did to her. It was just unthinkable. I don’t know how any … It takes a monster to do something like that to somebody. So it would be huge just to be able to know that somebody is serving time and getting what they deserve for what they did and not just out free, or walking around, and could do it to somebody else.”
“We know that she’s watching down, and that her spirit is living on through her kids, and that I’m sure she would be grateful up there knowing that somebody is paying for what they did to her, and she didn’t deserve this. Nobody deserves it. So hopefully that justice will be served and somebody will, whether it was one person or more than one, they go down for it so they’re not able to be out in society. I think that would really help,” said Burlingame.
Listen to HCSO’s Unfinished Business and if you have any information about this case, please contact Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at 813-247-8200.
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