CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 Police arrested the caretaker of a woman whose body was found in a remote part of Charlotte County more than one year ago.<\/p>\n
Cape Coral Police arrested 60-year-old Lori Hamilton on Wednesday for disturbing a dead body and failure to report a death. Deputies transferred her to Charlotte County to face charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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WINK News obtained an arrest warrant that said Hamilton tried to conceal Brenda Corbin\u2019s death and altered evidence. In an exclusive interview, Corbin\u2019s daughter said she feels like justice is starting to be served.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, she seemed like she was a good friend to my mom,\u201d Heather Bliss said. \u201cThere was just nothing there for me to suspect that she would do something like this.”<\/p>\n
Corbin struggled with mental health for years, Bliss said. She bounced around different care facilities before landing with Hamilton, who was a longtime friend. An arrest warrant said Hamilton checked her out of a Tampa care facility on May 3, 2025 to attend a friends funeral in Naples.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hamilton said she wasn\u2019t happy with the care Corbin received in Tampa, the warrant said. While searching for a new facility, Hamilton said she would take care of Corbin at her Cape Coral home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two weeks later, law enforcement discovered Corbin’s decomposed body under the brush near Bermont Road in Charlotte County.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hamilton reported Corbin missing from on Tuesday, May 20, the warrant said. She told detectives that Corbin likely walked away. However, a canvas of the neighborhood turned up no video of Corbin. Neighbors did not remember seeing her recently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when the Violent Crimes Unit got involved. Hamilton did not seem \u201ctoo concerned\u201d about Corbin\u2019s disappearance, the warrant said. Cellphone history later showed that Hamilton ran errands and didn\u2019t search for Corbin before calling police, the warrant said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time it really bothered me,\u201d Bliss said. \u201cIf my best friend went missing, I\u2019d be posting it all over Facebook. I\u2019d be doing everything I could.\u00a0<\/p>\n
License plate readers tagged Hamilton\u2019s truck driving north and south on State Road 31 in the early morning hours of May 19, the warrant said. Cameras caught Hamilton\u2019s truck at the intersection of State Road 31 and Cypress Parkway just before 5:00 a.m.<\/p>\n
Hamilton refused to answer detectives questions about the license plate hits, the warrant said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHamilton\u2019s demeanor changed,\u201d the warrant said. \u201cShe became quiet and looked down at the floor. When pushed for a reason why she was out there that night, she refused to state way. She refused to answer whether Brenda was with her or if she had left her at home alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police requested Hamilton\u2019s cellphone data. Hamilton\u2019s cellphone mirrored the movement of her truck, the warrant said. Hamilton\u2019s phone pinged in the middle of a nature preserve south of Bermont Road and Chiquita Drive in the early hours of May 19.<\/p>\n
A search of the area later found Corbin\u2019s decomposed body on May 23. There were drag marks in the grass leading from the edge of the road to the body, the warrant said. A leather belt was found in the grass nearby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Cape Coral Police obtained a search warrant for Hamilton\u2019s truck and home. Cadaver dogs sniffed human remains at or near the tailgate of Hamilton\u2019s truck, the warrant said. A search of the truck found Corbin\u2019s medication from the Tampa facility, along with her insurance and social security cards. Discolored towels and bedding were also removed from the truck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Detectives also seized several items from Hamilton\u2019s home, including a blanket that had vegetation stuck in it.<\/p>\n
Investigators returned to Hamilton\u2019s house in June. She refused to exit the home and partially leaned out of the door, the warrant said. When detectives told her Corbin\u2019s body was found, she slowly backed into the residence and locked the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Investigators also spoke with employees at Corbin\u2019s care facility in Tampa. The employees said they frequently had problems with Hamilton. She did not give doctors permission to adjust Corbin\u2019s medication, the warrant said, leading the Florida Department of Children and Families to get involved. The facility said Corbin could take care of herself but needed assistance with memory care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In July, detectives spoke with Corbin\u2019s children. The warrant said Corbin\u2019s son shared an earlier voicemail from his mom. Corbin said that Hamilton would not tell her the address of the home. Hamilton then apologizes and hangs up the phone, the warrant said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Medical Examiner\u2019s office did not determine the cause of Corbin\u2019s death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bliss said she\u2019s happy that Hamilton was arrested. But she believes there\u2019s more to the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish that she would do the right thing and tell us what happened,\u201d Bliss said. \u201cBecause it just doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Court records show that Hamilton\u2019s first court appearance was on Saturday. A judge set bond at $6,000. She is still in the Charlotte County Jail as of Sunday night, records show. An arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 8. at 9:30 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 Police arrested the caretaker of a woman whose body was found in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,4250,265,115],"class_list":["post-368542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-charlotte","tag-crime","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368542","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=368542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}