Lauren Dumolo’s family hires private investigator to aid search for her

There has been no sign of a mother in Cape Coral missing for the past five months, but her family has started a renewed search.

The family of Lauren Dumolo hired a private investigator to find her in addition to the efforts of Cape Coral Police Department.

Paul Dumolo, Lauren’s father, told us he is sad, scared and frustrated at this point in their hopes of finding his daughter. A lot of time has passed, and there has been no answer to what happened to her.

The last significant lead they had was when someone found her purse at Four Freedoms Park months ago.

There is not a day that goes by Lauren’s dad isn’t thinking about her.

“It’s crazy,” Paul said. “It’s unbelievable how nothing has come to fruition with any of this as far as finding out something.”

From search parties to sign postings and fundraisers, Paul told us, after all this time, police don’t have much to go on. So he’s using donations to bring in some outside help.

“The money that was through the fundraiser that we had gotten, we’re going to donate some of that to Crime Stoppers, and the rest is going to go toward a private investigator named Walt Zalisko,” Paul said.

Zalisko has spent 15 years as a private investigator. His job is to get people to talk.

“The reason for a private investigator to get involved with this is because the public generally is hesitant in speaking with police for a number of reasons,” Zalisko said.

Det. Nick Jones is leading the criminal case for CCPD.

“Over the past five months, we’ve had numerous detectives and forensics technicians working on this case. So you’re talking, with everybody combined, thousands of men hours,” Jones said. “When those tips stop, then, I’ll be a lot more concerned than I am now. But they’re still coming in, so there’s still work to be done.”

We also spoke to Lauren’s boyfriend, Gabriel Pena, on the phone. He told us he’s keeping faith that they’ll get answers soon.

Despite the time that has gone by, Paul Dumolo is not giving up on the search for his child.

“I’m sure there’s more than one person that knows what’s happened to my daughter, and I’m never gonna give up until I find out,” Paul said.

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Anyone with information about Lauren Dumolo’s whereabouts could collect a reward of up to $9,000. Call SWFL Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-8477 or the Cape Coral Police Department at (239)574-3223.

To connect with private investigator Walter Zalisko, visit his website.

MORE: Global Investigative Group