Human Remains Found by Kayakers in Fla. Identified as Woman Missing for More Than 40 Years

Rose Marie Gayhart, 23, was reported missing by her parents in 1985

NEED TO KNOW

• Human remains found by kayakers in Florida in 2024 have been identified as a woman who disappeared over 40 years ago, the Cape Coral Police Department said in a release on Friday, July 24
• The remains were confirmed to belong to 23-year-old Rose Marie Gayhart, who went missing in 1985
• Authorities have reopened the case as an active homicide investigation

Human remains found by kayakers in Florida in 2024 have been identified as a missing woman who disappeared over 40 years ago.

On Friday, July 24, the Cape Coral Police Department said in a release that the remains belonged to 23-year-old Rose Marie Gayhart who was reported missing by her parents —who lived in New York —in 1985.

Gayhart had been living and working in the Cape Coral and North Fort Myers area in Florida at the time of her disappearance, according to authorities. Her remains were found in May 2024 by kayakers in a canal in northeast Cape Coral.

“In May of 2026, the Cape Coral Police Department Violent Crimes Unit received confirmation that the remains belonged to Gayhart,” the Cape Coral Police Department’s release read. “The identification was confirmed with the assistance of the District 21 Medical Examiner’s Office.”

“For more than forty years, Rose Marie Gayhart’s family has carried the weight of not knowing what happened to her,” Chief Anthony Sizemore said in a statement. “While this identification brings long-awaited answers, it also strengthens our resolve.”

Sizemore continued, “No matter how much time passes, even after four decades, our investigations do not stop, and our pursuit of justice does not end.”

Sizemore went on to say that the case was now an active homicide investigation, adding, “We are committed to following every lead.”

Gayhart was last seen working at the Cape Coral restaurant, previously known as Big Howie’s Hot Dogs, according to WINK.

She was also residing in a trailer park with her boyfriend and his mother in North Fort Myers, WINK reported.

“It doesn’t get better, we just get through it,” Travis told WINK in 2017 of her sister’s disappearance. “She was really happy, she was really happy. She wanted me to come down and visit her, seemed like everything was good. Then within two weeks everything went sour.”

“I think she was murdered, the neighbors were all saying when they did the investigation,” Travis continued. “Also, there was a lot of crashing and banging and fighting going on at the trailer park all the time.”

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Travis also claimed that her sister’s boyfriend’s mother didn’t want Gayhart living with them.

“My mother got a letter from his mom, stated that she got the bus ticket for her [Gayhart] and everything, that she was hanging in bars and she was no good and this and that and she was sending her back to my mother and then she never came back,” Travis told WINK at the time.

According to the outlet, Gayhart’s boyfriend’s mother has since died.

The investigation remains ongoing.

PEOPLE reached out to the Cape Coral Police Department for further comment, but they did not immediately respond.