thank you, jumpnews reporters: 
07.17.06, Carrie G., Parrish, FL., (07.17.06, 6:00p) Possible jumper tonight on my commute home. Car was left at the top of the bridge. Fire dept was there, coast guard searching the water below.

07.17.06, E Bone, Bradenton, FL., (07.17.06, 6:00p) I was near the north rest stop with several other friends when several emergency vehicles tore by on 275 southbound. Also, at least one police emergency boat cruised by and what appeared to be a Coast Guard cruiser came toward the bridge up the channel from the Gulf. Everyone thought right away that someone might have jumped off of the Skyway. 
After I left to head home, I saw emergency vehicles parked on the road to the north fishing pier, with an inflatable boat in tow. Several boats, including the CG crusier, appeared to be looking for someone near the vicinity of the middle of the Skyway bridge, not the fishing pier. Crossing the bridge southbound, an empty, older 1980s or early 1990s vehicle (maybe a Thunderbird or a Taurus) with faded, goldish paint parked at the zenith of the bridge on the right emergency lane on the southbound side, behind which an emergency vehicle was parked. Two emergency workers were looking down at the water. No one else was standing or otherwise present at the top of the bridge.
Sadly enough, it appears that someone made an incredibly stupid and selfish decision today and acted on it by jumping from the Skyway.

07.18.06, Bill E., Riverview fl., Pinellas County hasn't had any 'area checks' in the area of the Skyway in the last 2 days. If somebody jumped they must have been recovered quickly.

07.19.06, jgf, st. pete., i was going northbound to home and saw the police cars in the southbound lane. The next day I discovered the man who comitted suicide was my Wifes daughters boyfriend. We had NO idea he was depressed. My deepest sympathies to her and his family.

(also thanks to John R., clearwater and sparks, palmetto. any more info is welcome.)

07.18.06, © St. Petersburg Times, Man, 41, dies after jump from Skyway
ST. PETERSBURG - A man died Monday after he jumped off the Sunshine Skyway. A passer-by alerted the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at 6:52 p.m. that a man had stopped his golden Toyota on the southbound side of the center span, exited the car and jumped over the rail, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter. The Coast Guard pulled the 41-year-old man's body from the water. The man's name was not released Monday night.

07.19.06, © St. Petersburg Times, Local musician jumps from Skyway, By Abbie Vansickle
TAMPA - Michael Scott O'Neill, lead guitarist of the alternative rock band the Unrequited Loves, a former editor at the Tampa Tribune and a fixture of the local music scene, died Monday evening after he jumped from the Sunshine Skyway bridge.
O'Neill, who was 41, died about 6:48 p.m., according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. A passing motorist saw him park his car along the southbound side of the center span and go over the rail, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.
The Coast Guard later found his body.
The youngest of six, O'Neill was born in Saint Clair, Mich., in 1965, said his sister, Margaret Quilty of Orlando. He came to Florida as a child. For 18 years, he was events editor at the Tribune, she said.
He left the job a few months ago. 
O'Neill was devoted to his family, she said, especially to his parents.
He was "the most loyal son that there could be," his sister said.
He was not married and had no children.
"He had been suffering from depression and had a series of losses," she said. "His passing is felt by many people."
O'Neill of Tampa was widely known in local music circles playing many local venues.
Keith Bartlett, 29, was the Unrequited Loves' bass player until recently.
"Mike wrote all the songs, and phenomenally so," he said. "Really smart song writer."
He will be missed, Bartlett said.

07.19.06, The Tampa Tribune©, Musician Poured Heart Into His Songs, By GRETCHEN PARKER 
TAMPA - Mike O'Neill, well known in the Tampa Bay-area music world as an uncompromising, passionate performer and gifted songwriter, has died. He was 41.
He jumped from the Sunshine Skyway bridge late Monday, Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies said.
Until his resignation in April, O'Neill worked for The Tampa Tribune for 18 years, first as a clerk and then as an editor who compiled dozens of events listings each week in the paper's Friday Extra section.
The Tribune was his full-time job, but music was his life's passion, said those who knew him, reviewed his music and performed with him. He founded three Tampa rock bands since the early 1990s, all of which centered on his creative energy and songwriting. He shared the stage with national acts, most recently during the July 4th weekend at a show organized by Steven Van Zandt at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa.
"I couldn't imagine a greater loss for the local, original music scene in Tampa," said Robert Mortellaro, a former music critic for The Weekly Planet who more than once named O'Neill "Best of the Bay" for his work. O'Neill's "raw, great talent as a songwriter" made him a star here, Mortellaro said.
If his bands played covers, they were songs in his own stockpile of records, Mortellaro said. O'Neill was a devoted collector of 1960s British invasion rock and of 1960s American garage bands. The fans who came to see O'Neill's bands - The Unrequited Loves, Nailbiters (late 1990s) and Monday Mornings (early 1990s) - came to see original music "played from their heart and soul," Mortellaro said.
O'Neill performed without regard for the reaction from the audience, Mortellaro said. "In Mike's case, it was almost always positive, but he attracted the kind of audience that came to see uncompromised commitment to art," he said.
Mortellaro described him as "walking a tightrope" onstage and remembered performances when he broke into high falsettos that seemed to teeter on the edge of falling apart. Sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn't. That was what people came to see - genuine, gut-generated art.
It was his songwriting that Bay area music fans will remember, said Curtis Ross, pop music critic for the Tribune. "There were no wasted words, no wasted notes. Everything was there for a purpose," said Ross, who in 1998 called Nailbiters' album "Every Wasted Second Gone" the year's best local release. "He never fell back on the old rock and roll cliches."
O'Neill poured his own cash into the projects, releasing the CDs under a label he called Facefirst Records, Ross said.
Despite his struggle with depression, O'Neill found the energy and time to devote to friends who needed it. Jeff Wood, a well-known local drummer who briefly played with O'Neill in the early 1990s, remembers that his friend pulled him out of a funk and sparked his rehabilitation after he underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor three years ago.
Wood, a lefty, lost movement in his left side and was struggling. O'Neill visited Wood, drove him to his warehouse practice space - and jammed with him. "For him to do that and get me to see forward again, that's something I can't forget."
O'Neill grew up in Auburndale, the youngest of six children, said his oldest sister, Margaret Quilty, of Orlando. He became the "model son" and was the only one of the children to visit his parents weekly. Monday and Thursday nights, he was there, playing canasta with his mother. "He was very quiet and reserved. That was his normal behavior," Quilty said. "Except when he was onstage."
MIKE O'NEILL - BORN: May 7, 1965, in St. Clair, Mich. DIED: July 17, 2006, in Tampa
SURVIVORS: (withheld) SERVICES: Pending

07.20.06, newsmanatee.com Skyway Bridge Jumper's Body Recovered TAMPA, Florida [NMT] -- On Monday, at approximately 6:48 p.m., a passing motorist observed an individual sitting on the span of the bridge. The man then jumped into the water below, the motorist said. The U.S. Coast Guard recovered the body and the victim was identified as Michael Scott O'Neill, 41, of Tampa. Authorities have ruled his death a suicide, according to a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office press release.

07.18.06, $T, STPFL., I knew this person. A wonderful person. Wrote the most beautiful songs. Helped me through tough times of my own. I will miss him. (sorry you lost your friend.)

07.19.06, Think twice, St. pete, FL., I also knew this person.. He was a very talented Musician and Writer(he worked for the Tribune at one point).. He had a lot of people that loved and cared for him.. It's sad to know we'll never really know why?

07.26.06, LICKYFACE, TAMPA, YOU SAY 'WE DIDN'T KILL HIM." NO, YOU DIDN'T. BUT YOU CAUSED INTENTIONALLY CAUSED ADDITIONAL HURT TO THE PEOPLE WHO CARED ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL MAN -- PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY IN ANGUISH. AND YOU DID IT FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN YOUR OWN AMUSEMENT. (you must be kidding. this 'wonderful man' jumps off the bridge and apparently causes unbelievable hurt, yet you scream at us for simply reporting his jump. we must be the devil! get a grip. all this could have been avoided by him simply not jumping. tada.) lickyface responds:
07.27.06, LICKYFACE, TAMPA, YES HE WAS A WONDERFUL MAN. HE WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR HIS FRIENDS AND DO MUCH FOR STRANGERS. CHECK HIS TRIBUTE SITE IF YOU WANT TO GET AN IDEA OF HOW MUCH THIS MAN MEANT TO HIS FREIDNS AND TO THE COMMINITY. PART OT THE TRAGEDY IS THAT, DESPITE HIS KIND HEART, HE SUFFERED FROM VERY REAL EMOTIONAL DISORDERS, INCLUDING DEPRESSION AND ALCOHOLISM. AND I DID NOT "SCREAN" AT YOU FOR MERELY REPORTING HIS DEATH. I HAVE NEVER EVEN SPOKEN TO YOU. AND BESIDES, REPORTING HIS DEATH IS NOT THE ISSUE. THE TIMES AND THE TRIBUNE BOTH REPORTED HIS DEATH AND GOT NOTHING BUT POSITIVE FEEDBACK. I AM SAYING YOU ARE INTENTIONALLY CAUSING ADDITONAL PAIN TO THE PEOPLE WHO LOVED MIKE BY MAKING SPORT OF HIS DEATH WITH YOUR POOL AND BY BERATING US FOR OUR FEELINGS. MERELY REPORTING HIS DEATH IS NOT THE ISSUE. TADA. (yes, he was wonderful and all his fans simply loved him and yet, he still took himself out. what's your problem with us reporting that? what's your problem with us making a game out of that? all he had to do to avoid being a pawn in this game was to not jump off the bridge. instead, he could stop drinking, get over his bullshit depression, and keep making great music, all of which were totally possible. he took the easy way out and played our pool. it was 100% his doing. he did it. as for your screaming at us, common internet practice indicates that anyone that corresponds with all caps is yelling, check it out. we berate no one first. we simply responded to other's negativity about us. we tend to give as we get. you play nice, we play nice. you act the fool, we do too. any discussion about our use of the term "bullshit depression" is welcome.) oh look, lickyface has more to yell about:
07.27.06, LICKYFACE, TAMPA, AND I NEVER SAID YOU WERE THE DEVIL. AND YES, HE DID CAUSE UNBELIEVABLE HURT AND I AM A LONG WAY FROM FORGIVING HIM FOR THAT. BUT HE WAS DEEPLY, DEEPLY TROUBLED. MY POINT IS, YOU HAVE INTENTIONALLY CAUSED ADDITIONAL ANGUISH, FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN YOUR OWN AMUSEMENT. (no, we said we are the devil. it's called sarcasm, please make a note of it. go ahead and read the rest of the site. you might learn that this site hopes to show the potential suicide practitioner the folly of his/her plan in an attempt to persuade him/her not to jump, but to get help. maybe if mike read the site, he might not have jumped. ever think of that? anyone can leave nice words about mike on this site. there have been numerous jumpers that have had many people leave their thoughts and best wishes for jumpers. you will see below we link to two sites discussing mike's plight and a tribute to him. you, on the other hand, use your all caps to yell at us. how does mike's inclusion on this site look now, mr. face?)

09.18.06, Victor, Tampa, fl., I knew Mike and this is for him. You'll die quick or you'll die slow.Its a great day to be alive a great day to die.We all die sometimes better sooner then later. alls i can hope for is another year. (day by day, it's all any of us can expect.)

01.16.07, daphne b., Springhill, Fl., my friend jumped off bridge and died.

03.03.07,
CREEKY THE SKYWAY JUMPER 
I THOUGHT HE WAS A FRIEND OF MINE 
BUT HE GOT HOOKED ON MAKERS MARK 
AND I THINK HE LOST HIS MIND. 

CREEKY THE SKYWAY JUMPER 
HAD NO WATER IN HIS FRIDGE 
SO HE WENT OUT FOR A LITTLE DRIVE 
AND JUMPED OFF THE SKYWAY BRIDGE. 

WHY HE HAD TOO DO IT 
I CAN'T REALLY SAY 
WE ALL WISH WE COULD GO BACK IN TIME 
AND ERASE THAT AWFUL DAY. 

CREEKY THE SKYWAY JUMPER 
SOMETIMES I THOUGHT I'D LIKE TOO BE YOU 
I NEVER SEEN A REASON 
WHY YOU HAD TOO BE SAD AND BLUE. 

CREEKY THE SKYWAY JUMPER 
WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN 
JUMPED OFF THE FUCKIN SKYWAY BRIDGE 
AND I THINK THAT IS JUST ROTTEN.
(written by Dan Mc., winter haven, fl., for mike. lifted from his myspace and used by permission. thanks, dan.)