Overview
- The remains were discovered by kayakers in a northeastern Cape Coral canal in May 2024 and were unidentified until this year.
- Police said DNA testing completed in May 2026 matched family-provided samples and established the remains as those of 23-year-old Rose Marie Gayhart.
- Gayhart was reported missing by her parents from Dansville, New York, after living and working in the Cape Coral/North Fort Myers area in 1985 and was last seen at a Cape Coral restaurant.
- Cape Coral’s Violent Crimes Unit and the District 21 Medical Examiner’s Office worked with the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office to secure familial DNA and investigators are now treating the death as an active homicide; anyone with information should call 239-574-3223.
- Family members and neighbors long suspected foul play, and authorities say the identification has produced new leads that could move the decades-old case toward accountability.