OLMSTED TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Carl Acoff was stabbed repeatedly and dumped into a pond, tethered to a block of concrete, a brutal ending to a long fight for acceptance, police say.

Township Police Chief John Minek told reporters that authorities identified the body Monday. Acoff, 20, of Cleveland, had been reported missing March 27. Acoff, who sometimes self-identified as a transgender woman, was found April 17 clad in a red Betty Boop tank top, three black bras and a light black hooded jacket. Acoff was naked from the waist down, police said at the time.

Acoff had a series of run-ins with various police agencies over the past couple of years, according to court records obtained by The Plain Dealer. In November 2010, RTA police said they were checking bus riders for proof of purchase when "we came across a female later identified as Carl Acoff. . . . Acoff gave us verbal information stating that he was a female." Acoff later acknowledged that legal documents listed his identity as a man.

Six months later, RTA police again stopped Acoff, who was carrying drugs and hormones used to treat low estrogen in women, according to a police report.

Acoff's body was found at 3:30 p.m. April 17 by a renter living in a two-unit apartment next to a retention pond on MacKenzie Road, north of Cook Road, in the township. The building is on a 20-acre tract of woods and fields that was part of Hall's Greenhouse until the company closed years ago. It served as a tool shop and apartment for an employee of the greenhouse.

Initially, the renter told neighbors that he believed the body might have been a mannequin. Minek said his department contacted area law enforcement agencies, seeking any missing people. On April 19, Cleveland police detectives told them that they had a missing person matching the description of the body in the pond.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office offered a positive identification through DNA on Monday. Minek would not answer reporters' questions or discuss any part of the investigation.

Debbie Hall lives across the street from the retention pond.

"Compared to Cleveland, this is rural," she said, scanning her street. "You don't hear screaming and yelling. The neighbors pretty much stick to themselves. You would never dream of this happening here."

Another neighbor, who refused to give her name, stopped fertilizing her lawn to discuss the incident.

"We just hope they find out who did this so we can get on with our lives," the woman said. "None of my family has been able to rest."

Repeated attempts to contact Acoff's family were unsuccessful.

Records indicate Acoff faced several charges in Cleveland Municipal Court, with many linked to public transportation.

In December 2011, Acoff was sentenced to six months in the county jail after pleading guilty to inducing panic and assault for squirting Mace in a man's face while on a bus. The passengers had to evacuate the bus. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedman also ordered Acoff to not to ride RTA buses after that incident.

A month later, in January 2012, after a no contest plea, a judge found Acoff guilty of possession of dangerous drugs involving the hormones. Acoff was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 100 days in jail.

In January 2011, Acoff was fined $100 after pleading no contest and being found guilty in Municipal Court to misconduct involving public transportation. The charge involved failing to pay a fare.