{"id":360349,"date":"2026-08-02T00:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/360349\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T00:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T00:03:16","slug":"florida-kayakers-grisly-find-identified-as-woman-missing-for-decades-now-cops-hunt-her-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/360349\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida kayaker\u2019s grisly find identified as woman missing for decades \u2013 now cops hunt her killer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Human remains found by a kayaker in Florida<\/a> have been identified as those of a 23-year-old woman who disappeared more than 40 years ago.<\/p>\n

Rose Marie Gayhart was reported missing in March 1985 by her parents, who lived in Dansville, New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before her disappearance, Gayhart was last known to be living and working in the Cape Coral and North Fort Myers area, according to the Cape Coral Police Department.<\/p>\n

Teen Found In Shallow California Vineyard Grave Identified Nearly 50 Years Later As Family Warns Killer<\/a><\/p>\n

She’d been living with her boyfriend, Robert Paddock, and his mother, Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers reported in a 2013 video aimed at drawing new attention to the cold case<\/a>. She’d moved to the area just three months before her disappearance, Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

When Gayhart’s frequent letters and phone calls to her family “quickly stopped,” they “had a gut feeling something was wrong,” Crime Stoppers reported. They knew, according to the video, that she and her boyfriend didn’t have “the perfect relationship.”<\/p>\n

Read On The Fox News App<\/a><\/p>\n

After interviewing witnesses, including Paddock and his mother, detectives said Gayhart was last seen “walking down the street with a suitcase” after being “kicked out of the trailer” where the three lived. A neighbor told investigators that Gayhart “came to her house to use her phone to call her family,” according to Crime Stoppers.<\/p>\n

\"Cape<\/p>\n

A paddleboarder heads down a canal in Cape Coral Dec. 26, 2020.<\/p>\n

Killer Admits To Decades-old Cold Case Slaying After Investigators Lean On New Forensic Evidence: Officials<\/a><\/p>\n

“That’s when she told her neighbor that she was pregnant, and she wanted to keep the baby, but her boyfriend did not want her to keep the baby.”<\/p>\n

Follow The Fox True Crime Team On X<\/a><\/p>\n

A neighbor in the trailer park reported “a lot of arguing and a lot of crashing one night, as far as things being destroyed,” according to the video report.<\/p>\n

Gayhart had just started working at Howie’s Hot Dogs in Cape Coral.<\/p>\n

Tipster Charged With Murder After Police Say Anonymous Call Helped Solve 30-Year Disappearance<\/a><\/p>\n

“Her boyfriend at the time went to pick her up, and she wasn’t at work,” Sizemore said.<\/p>\n

\"Rose<\/p>\n

Rose Marie Gayhart’s body was found in Cape Coral, Fla.<\/p>\n

Like What You’re Reading? Click Here For More<\/a><\/p>\n

Restaurant staff told authorities she’d left with a man in a red pickup truck.<\/p>\n

Send Us A Tip<\/a><\/p>\n

Two independent witnesses reported seeing Gayhart before her disappearance with “a White male in a red pickup truck,” Sizemore said.<\/p>\n

Got A Tip?<\/a><\/p>\n

Identifying him is thought to be a critical piece of information that could help solve the case.<\/p>\n

In May 2024, a kayaker paddling in a northeast Cape Coral canal discovered a human skull and alerted police.<\/p>\n

With the help of a New York<\/a> law enforcement agency, Florida authorities obtained DNA from Gayhart’s family. It took two years, but testing on the skull revealed proof Gayhart had been found.<\/p>\n

\"Dansville,<\/p>\n

A sign on State Rt. 63 welcomes drivers to Dansville, New York. July 29, 2019.<\/p>\n

LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST<\/a><\/p>\n

“For more than 40 years, Rose Marie Gayhart’s family has carried the weight of not knowing what happened to her,” Sizemore said in a news release. “While this identification brings long-awaited answers, it also strengthens our resolve.<\/p>\n

Sign Up To Get The Latest True Crime News<\/a><\/p>\n

“No matter how much time passes, even after four decades, our investigations do not stop, and our pursuit of justice does not end.”<\/p>\n

\"Cape<\/p>\n

Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore addresses the media during a conference April 17, 2024.<\/p>\n

Get Breaking News By Email<\/a><\/p>\n

The cold case<\/a> is now considered an active homicide investigation.<\/p>\n

Click Here To Download The Fox News App<\/a><\/p>\n

And Sizemore is asking for help.<\/p>\n

“We ask anyone with information to come forward so we can help bring accountability and closure to this case and to the family.”<\/p>\n

Original article source: Florida kayaker’s grisly find identified as woman missing for decades \u2013 now cops hunt her killer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Human remains found by a kayaker in Florida have been identified as those of a 23-year-old woman who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67394,209,7726,28,30,29,92836],"class_list":["post-360349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-anthony-sizemore","tag-cape-coral","tag-crime-stoppers","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-rose-marie-gayhart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360349","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=360349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}