A large law enforcement investigation at a vacant lot in North Cape Coral Tuesday sparked widespread speculation online that the search could be connected to missing Cape Coral woman Lauren Dumolo.
For hours, Cape Coral Police, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, forensic investigators and heavy equipment worked at a vacant lot near Kismet Parkway and Northeast 19th Place. Investigators searched along a canal, excavators moved dirt and crews sifted through soil under forensic tents.
By Tuesday evening, the activity had ended. Only a Cape Coral Police SUV, a Lee County Sheriff’s Office storage bin and an excavator neighbors said had already been at the property remained.
Authorities have not released details about what investigators were searching for, saying only that it was part of an active investigation.
For nearby neighbor Evan Richardson, the scene immediately stood out.
Richardson has a diagonal view of the property from his backyard and said he noticed the operation shortly before heading to work Tuesday morning.
“Having this angle that I have coming out back here, right away seeing that trailer kind of tucked back there and seeing sheriff, sheriff and a trailer. You’re already okay. This is an operation. It’s not normal. You don’t see somebody pulled over as you typically would. Something’s going on.”
His first concern was for the safety of his neighborhood.
“You see something like that going on. You assume it’s something serious… You just want to know everyone in the neighborhood is safe.”
Looking for answers, Richardson turned to social media. That’s when he noticed dozens of comments mentioning Lauren Dumolo, who disappeared from Cape Coral in June 2020 and has not been found.
“I started noticing comments about Lauren… Then you start to wonder, ‘Did we finally find her?’ Hopefully, you know, it’s one of those scenarios.”
Lauren Dumolo. Credit: via Cape Coral Police Department.
The online speculation quickly reached Lauren’s sister, Cassie Carey.
She said friends and strangers began messaging her Tuesday morning after seeing videos of the investigation. Before she even had a chance to contact investigators herself, Carey said a detective reached out to her.
“Before I even had a chance to reach out to Cape Coral Police Department, I actually got a text from a detective. He was like, ‘Hey, you’re going to see on the news that we’re doing a project. It’s an open investigation. I’m going to let you know now that it’s not connected to your sister.'”
For Carey, the phone call brought mixed emotions.
“It’s a catch-22. It’s a sigh of relief because, okay, this is not it. She’s not found deceased. But then here we are, still six years later. This isn’t it. This isn’t over, and we don’t have any answers.”
She says scenes like Tuesday’s have become part of her family’s reality.
Every report of human remains, an active search or a major investigation sends her looking for answers.
“Anytime I get news on my feed that involves human remains found or a search going on for an open investigation, I immediately go, ‘This has to be connected to Lauren.'”
Despite learning Tuesday’s investigation had nothing to do with her sister, Carey says she’s thankful Lauren has not been forgotten.
“I’m so grateful to the Lee County and Cape Coral community for keeping Lauren’s story alive, for keeping her name out there, for thinking about her. These are complete strangers… and they’re still fighting for answers.”
More than six years after Lauren disappeared, Carey says hope continues to carry her family forward.
“I don’t know how, when, why, what, where, but I do know that at some point, I feel it in my heart that we will bring her home in some sense.”
As of Tuesday night, Cape Coral Police had not released additional information about what investigators were searching for at the vacant lot or whether any evidence was recovered.