{"id":694,"date":"2026-07-27T15:15:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/07\/27\/human-remains-found-by-kayakers-in-fla-identified-as-woman-missing-for-more-than-40-years\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T15:15:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T15:15:35","slug":"human-remains-found-by-kayakers-in-fla-identified-as-woman-missing-for-more-than-40-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/07\/27\/human-remains-found-by-kayakers-in-fla-identified-as-woman-missing-for-more-than-40-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Remains Found by Kayakers in Fla. Identified as Woman Missing for More Than 40 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rose Marie Gayhart, 23, was reported missing by her parents in 1985 <\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/nxVgTsXNEtasv3vhw4mloYeFuEU=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/rosie-marie-gayhart-072626-eeb3ccac364a41a5a6ba4757b485ee14.jpg\" alt=\"Rose Marie GayhartCredit: Family Handout\" title=\"Rose Marie Gayhart went missing in the Cape Coral area in 1985.\" \/><figcaption><i>Rose Marie Gayhart<br \/>Credit: Family Handout<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>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<\/li>\n<li>The remains were confirmed to belong to 23-year-old Rose Marie Gayhart, who went missing in 1985<\/li>\n<li>Authorities have reopened the case as an active homicide investigation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Human remains found by kayakers in Florida in 2024 have been identified as a missing woman who disappeared over 40 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, July 24, the Cape Coral Police Department said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/capecops.com\/2026\/07\/24\/cape-coral-police-identify-remains-in-1985-missing-person-case\/\" data-type=\"\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">release<\/a> that the remains belonged to 23-year-old Rose Marie Gayhart who was reported missing by her parents \u2014who lived in New York \u2014in 1985.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn May of 2026, the Cape Coral Police Department Violent Crimes Unit received confirmation that the remains belonged to Gayhart,\u201d the Cape Coral Police Department\u2019s release read. \u201cThe identification was confirmed with the assistance of the District 21 Medical Examiner\u2019s Office.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/SUrcdgaYLcvTZy5-Haviq8UJh-w=\/fit-in\/640x480\/rosie-marie-gayhart-072626-3-3cb5608d9f4d43db90dda6d663099c2c.jpg\" alt=\"Rose Marie Gayhart\" title=\"Rose Marie Gayhart went missing in the Cape Coral area in 1985.\" \/><figcaption><i>Rose Marie Gayhart<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cFor more than forty years, Rose Marie Gayhart\u2019s family has carried the weight of not knowing what happened to her,\u201d Chief Anthony Sizemore said in a statement. \u201cWhile this identification brings long-awaited answers, it also strengthens our resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sizemore continued, \u201cNo matter how much time passes, even after four decades, our investigations do not stop, and our pursuit of justice does not end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sizemore went on to say that the case was now an active homicide investigation, adding, \u201cWe are committed to following every lead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gayhart was last seen working at the Cape Coral restaurant, previously known as Big Howie\u2019s Hot Dogs, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winknews.com\/news\/lee\/woman-still-seeking-answers-in-sister-s-1985-cape-coral-disappearance\/article_cc583b90-36ee-5cb6-a18c-69a024cb58d9.html\" data-type=\"\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WINK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>She was also residing in a trailer park with her boyfriend and his mother in North Fort Myers, WINK reported.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/naBs7BEofIkU44saSRMR9TEz6iQ=\/fit-in\/640x480\/rosie-marie-gayhart-072626-1-a903c3305aeb4d1fa69804201e57301b.jpg\" alt=\"Rose Marie GayhartCredit: The Cape Coral Police Department\" title=\"Rose Marie Gayhart went missing in the Cape Coral area in 1985.\" \/><figcaption><i>Rose Marie Gayhart<br \/>Credit: The Cape Coral Police Department<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t get better, we just get through it,\u201d Travis told WINK in 2017 of her sister\u2019s disappearance. \u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think she was murdered, the neighbors were all saying when they did the investigation,\u201d Travis continued. \u201cAlso, there was a lot of crashing and banging and fighting going on at the trailer park all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Take PEOPLE with you! <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.magazines.com\/people-magazine.html?utm_source=people.com&amp;utm_medium=owned&amp;utm_campaign=editorialarticlemention\">Subscribe to PEOPLE magazine<\/a><\/u> to get the latest details on celebrity news, exclusive royal updates, how-it-happened true crime stories and more \u2014 right to your mailbox.<\/p>\n<p>Travis also claimed that her sister\u2019s boyfriend\u2019s mother didn\u2019t want Gayhart living with them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy 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,\u201d Travis told WINK at the time.<\/p>\n<p>According to the outlet, Gayhart\u2019s boyfriend\u2019s mother has since died.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation remains ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>PEOPLE reached out to the Cape Coral Police Department for further comment, but they did not immediately respond.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rose Marie Gayhart, 23, was reported missing by her parents in 1985 Rose Marie GayhartCredit: Family Handout 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}