Florida authorities identify 1985 missing woman's remains, launch renewed homicide probe
Human remains found by a kayaker in Cape Coral have been confirmed as those of Rose Marie Gayhart, a 23-year-old who vanished in 1985, and the case is now an active homicide investigation.
In May 2024 a kayaker in a Cape Coral canal uncovered a human skull that investigators later linked to Rose Marie Gayhart, a 23-year-old who disappeared in March 1985 after moving to the Cape Coral-North Fort Myers region. Gayhart had been residing with boyfriend Robert Paddock and his mother, and neighbors reported arguments and a sudden departure after she told a neighbor she was pregnant. Two witnesses said they saw her with a white male driving a red pickup truck on the day she vanished.
DNA comparison with family samples, facilitated by a New York law-enforcement agency, confirmed the remains after two years of testing. Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore declared the cold case reopened as a homicide and appealed for tips to bring the perpetrator to justice.
Why it matters
Identifying a decades-old missing-person case provides closure for the family and revives a homicide investigation that could lead to an arrest.
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