CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Behind every face and every action, there's a name. The search for those names is where the journey begins.
Fox 4's Executive Reporter Kaitlin Knapp is on a mission to get to know the names we know, and perhaps find the ones we don't, along with the detectives working in the same communities you call home.
In Fox 4's award-winning series "Sunshine Crimes," we are going across Southwest Florida to tell the stories of people waiting for justice.
Missing persons cases present unique challenges for law enforcement, typically beginning not with a crime scene or body, but with a person who has vanished without a trace.
When Knapp asked the department what case they wanted to feature, Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore chose Lauren Dumolo's.
"I think everyone deserves to have the attention paid to their case," Sizemore said. "I’m talking about Lauren because I want these cases out [there]."
On June 19, 2020, police began their investigation at Dumolo's apartment on Coronado Parkway, which is now an empty lot. Officers found her phone inside the home, and as they continued investigating, they discovered more evidence outside her apartment.
"They find a purse and some other belongings and that's where the case begins," Sizemore said.
The belongings were found at Four Freedoms Park, about a mile away from where the 29-year-old mother lived. The discovery raised immediate questions about how her purse ended up there.
"She wouldn't leave it there and willfully leave a scene without bringing her belongings like that," Sizemore said.
This evidence told investigators that Dumolo did not leave on her own free will.
"I think it would be irresponsible not to suspect foul play at this point and it's very unusual for somebody to just disappear," Sizemore said.
The investigation required a different approach than typical criminal cases, focusing heavily on victimology.
"Who are they, what are their normal routines, who do they live with? You start very small," Sizemore said.
However, this victimology proved challenging, as investigators didn't find anything about Dumolo's life that led them in a specific direction.
"We don't have suspects. We have a victim, we have a lot of witnesses," Sizemore said. "What we do in a case like this is you start over a lot."
In cases like this, Sizemore said you start over a lot.
"You reinterview people, you retrace steps and you just continue to work at it," he said. "The length of time that a case is open does not dissuade you from continuing to work."
So that's what detectives have done over the years — really searching for anything new. Then they thought they had a breakthrough.
"This lead is the biggest lead that we've had in the life of this case," Sizemore said.
On October 13, 2021, skeletal remains of what appeared to be a young woman were found in the woods off Pine Island Road near Tamiami Trail. Uncertain if the remains belonged to Dumolo, investigators pleaded with the dental community for help.
"We decided we need dental records and we're at a Hail Mary stage at this point," Sizemore said.
Sizemore and the Lee County Sheriff's Office held a joint press conference, asking for those records of Dumolo.
The approach worked, and they obtained dental records from an out-of-state dentist. However, when they compared the records to the remains, it wasn't a match for Dumolo.
"When you're working a cold case, you're very hopeful when a lead comes about and that was a good lead," Sizemore said. "It's a punch to the gut. You dust yourself off, you step over it and keep going."
The department continued their efforts. In June 2025, Sizemore said there was some movement on Dumolo's case.
"We had actionable intelligence on a lead that caused an operation for us to act on," Sizemore said.
However, this lead also failed to bring them closer to finding Dumolo.
Sizemore attributes the case becoming cold to its unique circumstances, noting that Dumolo "wasn't with somebody and was clearly a witnessed abduction."
He said there are no suspects — just a victim and a lot of witnesses.
As another year passes without answers, Cape Coral Police continue working to solve the mystery of what happened to Lauren Dumolo.
"Obviously the answer is out there somewhere. I don't know what it is, but that's what we continue to aggressively find out," Sizemore said. "We care about Lauren. We care about what happened in this case."
Anyone with information is asked to call Cape Coral Police or Crimestoppers.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
