NORTH FORT MYERS — The search for Cape Coral mother Lauren Dumolo may be at an end.
Dumolo has been missing since June of 2020, but the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and the Cape Coral Police Department said Wednesday they have found remains that match her description.
The Sheriff’s Office said they found the remains off Pine Island Rd. in North Fort Myers, but earlier this week a Fox 4 viewer called us, saying he saw deputies pulling a body out of the woods off of Pine Island Rd. near the intersection with U.S. 41 Business.
A woman we spoke with at the shopping center across the street also confirmed she saw that police activity last week.
That means the expanse of woods off of that section of Pine Island Rd. may have been the final resting place of Lauren Dumolo.
Sally Elkins works across the street and said she saw the commotion when deputies were on the scene last week.
"Everybody was talking about they had found a body, and I guess they had it roped off or something so they couldn’t get back there," said Elkins.
According to the police report, deputies responded on October 5th to a location where they found something, but it doesn’t say what or where.
But the description from Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore fits that location.
"It was a wooded area in unincorporated Lee County in North Fort Myers," said Sizemore.
We also found police caution tape left back in the woods. Elkin said that's an area where many homeless individuals camp.
"The fact that she was back there where they camp, we don’t know what really happened to her," said Elkins.
At this time, we don’t have confirmation that the skeletal remains are in fact Lauren Dumolo. Sizemore said they are asking any dentists that worked on her teeth in the past 10 years to contact them.
"If you could let us know if she was a patient, we will take care of getting the requisite court orders to get that dental information and make that identification," said Sizemore.
But Sizemore said, even without that identification, this is the best lead his department has had in the Dumolo investigation. He even reached out to the family with an update.
"I personally spoke with Lauren’s father yesterday to let him know about the discovery, to hear it from us, and to also hear it from me to show him that, the gravity of the situation that, although it is not confirmed, we cannot do that, we do believe it’s promising," said Sizemore.
"I hope that they did find her, and they can put her, her family can put her to rest," said Elkins.
We actually spoke briefly with Lauren’s father Paul on the phone Wednesday evening, and he said he was aware that his daughter’s body may finally have been found.
According to Chief Sizemore, if Dumolo’s dental records can’t be obtained, they will have to try to identify the remains by using DNA, which he said can take much longer, even years.
