{"id":352383,"date":"2026-07-25T20:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/352383\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T20:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T20:00:08","slug":"dna-identifies-florida-woman-missing-since-1985-homicide-investigation-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/352383\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA identifies Florida woman missing since 1985, homicide investigation underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A mystery is taking a major turn after authorities confirmed human remains found in a Cape Coral canal belong to a woman who vanished in 1985.<\/p>\n

Cape Coral police<\/a> say the skull discovered by a teenager while kayaking in 2024 belongs to Rose Gayhart, who disappeared without a trace.<\/p>\n

Gayhart\u2019s case went cold for years before Crime Stoppers reopened the investigation in 2013, uncovering new details about her personal life and possible leads.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it possible that she went off the grid? It\u2019s possible. Is it possible she died? Yes,\u201d Matt Walsh, a former special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, told Gulf Coast News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

See also: Florida man arrested for ‘heinous’ abuse; locked child in hot room with camera & bucket<\/a><\/p>\n

Investigators previously learned Gayhart may have been dealing with domestic issues and was possibly pregnant when she disappeared. Two witnesses also reported seeing her with a white man in a red pickup truck.<\/p>\n

Authorities say they learned two months ago the remains belonged to Gayhart.<\/p>\n

Last week, Cape Coral police searched the area where the skull was found, looking for additional evidence and possibly more remains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make me feel better because it is not solved yet, but I would definitely like to get this person behind bars,\u201d said Cape Coral resident Ashley LaRosa. \u201cGet justice for her and her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police say the Livingston County Sheriff\u2019s Office in New York helped secure the DNA used to identify Gayhart\u2019s remains.<\/p>\n

The case is now being investigated as an open homicide as detectives continue searching for answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A mystery is taking a major turn after authorities confirmed human remains found…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-352383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}