Sebastian woman found in freezer was 'one of those people you like to be around,' stepson says

SEBASTIAN — Police are not saying much about their investigation into how 93-year-old Marie Hoskins' body ended up in a freezer in her garage last week, but family and neighbors recalled the affable woman as “one of those people you like to be around, because you hope she rubs off on you.”

Police spokesman Capt. Timothy Wood said Hoskins’ daughter, who is living in the home in the 100 block of Paddock Street between Schumann Drive and U.S.1, is cooperating with detectives and has talked with them about the discovery.

Wood said Tuesday they were still waiting on a medical examiner’s findings.

“It will assist with the course of the investigation,” he said.

Previously: Sebastian woman's body found in freezer of Sebastian home; police awaiting autopsy results

More Sebastian news: Arrest made in 2021 shooting death of 25-year-old Sebastian man

Police found the body Thursday after a neighbor asked for a welfare check because Hoskins hadn't been seen in a long time, and knocks to her door were unanswered.

Police entered the home after an out-of-state family member directed them to a hidden key. Inside was Hoskin's adult daughter who said she hadn’t seen her mother “in some time,” Wood said Thursday.

“Something told me to bury a key outside that house," said Hoskins’ stepson Michael Vannoy, 59. "I just had a funny feeling that somebody, someday, somewhere … there needed to be a key hidden out there and I buried a key in the yard.”

Vannoy, an engineer in New River, Arizona, said he told police where to find the key.

“I took a picture of the location and I forwarded the picture from two years ago that I found in a 2-year-old text message … to the officer on scene,” he said.

Vannoy said he lost contact with Hoskins about six months ago.

“The phones were cut off and I had no further contact and everybody that I called to check on her … they'd knock on the door, nothing happened, nobody knew,” he said.

A neighbor in a house on an adjoining property on Day Street said she last saw Hoskins about a year ago.

Annie Yondolino said, as a nurse, she felt Hoskins was comfortable talking with her.

“It took her a little bit to get to the door,” said Yondolino. “She told me how her husband passed away (and) she didn’t have any family.”

Yondolino said she wanted to discuss a yard project which would involve maintenance workers entering both yards.

“In general, she had no one to help her and that’s why she was concerned about maintenance of the shrub,” she said.

Yondolino said she told Hoskins she would take care of all the upkeep and returned home after telling her to call if she ever needed anything.

“She drove,” Yondolino said. “She was a Florida older person … she could take care of herself.”

A few months later, Yondolino said she and her boyfriend began hearing noises from what had been a quiet home.

“We would smell smoke and (hear) the sound of two voices," she said. "It’s always been very quiet ... and then that."

Both Hoskins’ absence and the signs of new people at her home happened around early fall 2021, Yondolino said.

No one answered the door at Hoskins' house last weekend.

Who was Marie Hoskins?

Hoskins was married to professional jazz saxophonist George Vannoy, who died at 86 in 2019.

They owned the Sebastian home since 2006, according to tax records.

Michael Vannoy said his father met his stepmother in the mid-90s while Hoskins lived in Cocoa Beach and George Vannoy had a home in Vero Beach.

“I was very close with her ... I called her Mom,” Vannoy said. “She was very high class, very worldly and educated."

He said Hoskins worked for most of her career at the NASA Space Center and in her retirement for Disney cruise line.

“I loved Marie,” he said. “She was the adult in the room – unbelievable person – my dad really lucked into finding her.”

Vannoy said about two months after his father’s death, Hoskins’ adult child moved into the home “and slammed the door on everybody.”

Also shut off, he said, were longtime family friends who acted as her caretakers checking in on Hoskins, “three to four times a week.”

“I tried to get Marie to move here (Arizona) and she wouldn’t,” he said. “She was afraid that the dog wouldn’t make it.

Bopper, he said, was Hoskins’ beloved, roughly 8-year-old heeler.

“Everybody’s asking me where’s the dog? What’s happening with the dog, because everybody that cared about Marie knows how much she cared about that dog," he said. “They’re willing to take it, (but) I don’t know the status of the dog right now.”

Vannoy said until his calls began going unanswered, he would speak with Hoskins at least once a month by phone and last saw her about two years ago, shortly after his father’s death.

“We were pretty close,” he said “She was one of my brain-trust, go-to people. She was my family.”

Until last year, he said she drove a new car she bought, and “always had her hair done once a week.”

When at age 90, she broker her hip, Vannoy said she refused pain killers to ensure she wouldn't become bedbound.

"This woman was a go-getter, man, and you weren’t going to stop her," he said. "She was sharp, she was tough ... she's one of those people you like to be around because you hope she rubs off on you."

Corey Arwood is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Corey on Twitter @coreyarwood, or reach him by phone at 772-978-2246.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Sebastian police investigating Florida woman's body found in freezer