CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Monday marks three years since Cape Coral mother Lauren Dumolo was last seen alive.
Cape Coral Police have never named a suspect or person of interest, but NBC2 has learned there’s a new lead detective on the case.
For the first time, a group is claiming they have evidence from three years ago that has largely been overlooked.
During the three-year investigation there have been moments of hope. However, nothing has given Lauren’s family what they desperately want and deserve: answers.
“Heartbroken. Absolutely heartbroken, still,” Lauren’s father Paul Dumolo said.
“It’s a battle. It’s a mental battle every day,” Lauren’s sister Cassie Carey said.
Her other sister Lindsey Smith echoed the emotional toll it’s taken on their family.
“I’ve had trouble sleeping. I’ve had trouble concentrating,” Smith said.
Words aren’t enough to describe the love Lauren’s family has for her, or the pain they feel without her.
The last known video of Lauren was taken on June 18, 2020. She was dropping off an application at a gas station, about a half mile from her apartment on Coronado Parkway.
“I spoke with her around 6:30 p.m. on the 18th. I mean she had just been released from a mental health facility. This was her second hold this month. You know, things were just, she wasn’t okay,” Carey said.
Her sister wanted to help her out and try to get her back on her feet. She offered up a place to stay and even help her work through the process of unemployment.
“She was like, ‘thank you so much I appreciate you, you know, let’s definitely talk tomorrow’. That was suppose to be on June, 19th,” Carey said.
That call never happened.
Lauren’s live-in boyfriend Gabriel Pena called her dad, Paul Dumolo that night. He said he told Pena to file a missing persons report with Cape Coral Police.
He did, 48 hours later on June 21.
Due to an unfortunate clerical error, major crimes investigators weren’t aware of her case until June 24.
“Yes that put us behind the eight ball, but I think that once it was assigned to [Cape Coral Police major crimes investigators] they really did hit the ground running and I commend them for that,” Carey said.
Lauren’s purse was found at Four Freedoms Park the day she vanished and her shirt would surface there weeks later.
It’s a place she went to often.
“I think it held a lot of good memories and positive memories with her daughter…she would ground herself there, she would meditate there. That’s where she found her peace,” Carey said.
Three weeks after Lauren was last seen, cadaver dogs with Peace River Search and Rescue worked with Cape Police searching the park and surrounding areas.
Mike Hadsell was there for part of that search. He founded the nonprofit in 2005.
“[Cadaver dogs] are sharpshooters if you train them right. They’ll hit every time,” Hadsell said.
He said the dogs alerted them to the waterline at Four Freedoms Park Park. Dive teams then searched the water, but didn’t find anything.
“The dogs came out of the park and then they went across the street, went up to the second story of the apartment building and alerted on the front door. And that was not a cued search,” Hadsell said.
He said that means there had to be a lot of odor.
“To be able to pick up that odor and then move across the street, that’s a pretty significant event when that happens, that doesn’t happen normally,” Hadsell said.
Hadsell said that apartment belonged to Lauren’s late mother and her boyfriend Victor.
“They said a cat had died and they think that’s what the cadaver dogs were hitting…human remains odor doesn’t smell like animals. It doesn’t smell like anything else,” Hadsell said.
Hadsell said the dogs got another hit on Victor’s work van, which the family said has ties to Gabriel, too.
“Gabriel and my mother’s boyfriend worked together,” Carey said.
In the flooring industry.
“It’s very possible that he had just bled on something and then just touched things and that could be it. So we have to eliminate that. And we do that with the crime scene techs,” Hadsell said.
Hadsell said usually police use the handlers to help figure that out.
“We didn’t get any callbacks. We didn’t hear anything back from Cape Coral PD…we were kind of like wow, that’s weird, I wonder what happened,” Hadsell said.
Lauren’s dad wonders, too.
“I think she was murdered by her boyfriend is what I think,” Paul said.
No one has faced any charges relating to Lauren’s disappearance, leaving her family in the same position — 1,095 days later.
“Do you believe there’s any chance that Lauren is still alive?” Asked NBC2 Anchor Kyla Galer.
“I always hold on to that chance,” Paul said.
They describe the last three years as an emotional rollercoaster.
“It’s been detrimental seriously, to our entire family,” Smith said.
A battle between hope and reality.
“In the back of my mind, one percent of me thinks you know, maybe out there somewhere. But in my own mind I’ve kind of come to terms with the fact that I don’t believe she’s going to come home alive,” Carey said.
“I think anyone who has like a soul or a conscience or a heart should just come forward and relieve us of this pain,” Smith said.
Pain that doesn’t go away with time.
“It’s never going to end until I get an answer. I always said that. And I will never give up,” Paul said.
They say the path toward healing starts with one word: closure.
You can help by reporting any tips to Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers. The agency is still offering an $8,000 reward for information.
Lauren’s mother’s boyfriend Victor spoke with NBC2 over the phone. He said he doesn’t know why the cadaver dogs hit his van or his apartment. But he said he and Gabriel had nothing to do with Lauren’s disappearance. He believes Lauren was running with the wrong crowd and her disappearance may have been drug-related.
Gabriel could not be reached for comment.
NBC2 requested to interview the new detective on the case. Cape Coral Police said it wouldn’t comment on an active investigation.
Meanwhile, Hadsell said he doesn’t work with Cape Coral Police anymore. But he has spent more than a year volunteering with the family, searching a number of other areas in Southwest Florida.
None of which turned up anything.
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