Identified remains in 1985 missing person case led police on Florida’s Gulf Coast to 2-day dig

Assignment Editor

Officers with the Cape Coral Police Department have identified human remains connected to a 1985 disappearance, prompting a multi-day dig in a lot near Kismet Parkway in Cape Coral, Florida.

CCPD says 23-year-old Rose Marie Gayhart was reported missing by her family in Danville, New York. She was known to be working in the Cape Coral/North Fort Myers area.

Back in 2024, human remains were discovered by kayakers in a canal in Northeast Cape Coral, and in May officers were able to confirm that they belonged to Gayhart.

Sister station WBBH reports the area where the remains were located, off Kismet Parkway and near Northeast 19th Avenue, was excavated by police, deputies with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Broward County Sheriff’s Office, and the District 21 Medical Examiner’s Office.

Investigators were seen using excavators, sifting through piles of dirt beneath a tent and cutting down trees at the property for two days. A forensics boat was also observed in a nearby canal as the search continued.

CCPD says the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office in New York played an integral role in securing the DNA used to identify the remains.

Police say this is now an open homicide investigation.