BY ADAM AASENSTORY UPDATED AT 8:59 AM ON THURSDAY, OCT. 8, 2009

After wading through mounds of garbage 8 feet tall, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office discovered a deceased woman who had been reported missing by her family.

Police had been dispatched to the 7600 block of North Crest Drive on the Westside about 11 p.m. Tuesday to look for 71-year-old Carina E. Deocampo. Family members said they haven't heard from the woman for weeks and were concerned. Along with the help of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, police forced entry into the home and began to search for the woman.

Immediately, the officers were "overwhelmed by an unbelievable squalor" with an intense smell that made some officers feel ill, fire department spokesman Tom Francis said. After 20 minutes of trying to search through the mounds of trash in the home, it was decided that the fire department needed to be brought back in with their breathing gear and search dogs to locate the woman.

Francis said it's no hyperbole to say that trash mounds were 8 feet high and the dogs walking on top of the trash nearly touched the ceiling.

The fire department's search was not successful so the Sheriff's Office brought in their cadaver dogs. Deocampo was eventually located deceased.

No cause of death has been released and the case is still under investigation.