Police on scene of investigation in Punta Gorda

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.- WINK News is looking for details into an investigation in Punta Gorda.

Authorities served a search warrant at a home on Boca Grande Boulevard. Details of the investigation are limited, but the home has a gruesome history.

Neighbors did not expect to wake up on the first day of 2015 with crime scene tape surrounding a nearby house.

Investigators are combing through evidence but this isn’t the first time a scene like this has taken place at the same home.

The last time a crime scene unit was at the home, they found a baby wrapped in garbage bags, stuffed in the freezer.

In January 2012, Jessica Smallwood, a teacher’s aide at Peace River Elementary went to the hospital for bleeding. Something suspicious about her story led police back to her home.

Officers found the baby wrapped in garbage bags, in Smallwood’s freezer. The medical examiner also found traces of cocaine in the child’s body but Smallwood never faced charges because the infant was still born.

Thursday, the scene looks eerily similar to people on this block who remember what happened nearly three years ago.

“I saw a familiar scene that I had seen before years ago and I just… it blew my mind that this could happen twice at the same house,” said neighbor Michael Broyhill.

Neighbors confirmed to WINK News the same family lives in the house.

Police say they have been collecting evidence since 8:30 a.m. They also sectioned off the lot next door which belongs to Habitat for Humanity. However, most of the concentration of this search seems to be in the backyard where an investigator raked the ground looking for possible evidence.

Officials have not said whether or not this investigation is related to what occurred three years ago.

Trust WINK News to bring you any updates as we find out.