Saturday marks two years since Porter Albert disappeared from a parking lot in North Fort Myers, and police are working to gain new leads while Albert’s family continues to live without closure.
Albert, 78, was last seen at the Big Lots at 13970 N. Cleveland Ave. in North Fort Myers at around 7 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2020.
Detectives with the Fort Myers Police Department were along Fort Myers’ Cleveland Ave. corridor to pass out flyers with Albert’s face on it in hopes of finding out more information about his disappearance.
Albert used to go to the area to help out others, police said.
Saturday won’t be the first time investigators have passed out flyers with Porter’s face on them; they did the same thing in October 2020.
Diane Albert Hall, Albert’s ex-wife and the mother of their two children, says she spoke with him just two weeks before he disappeared.
“‘Where is he, is the big question,” Hall said. “He would give you the shirt off his back. He really would, he loved to help people. He wanted people to get better.”
The two married when Hall was 20 years old. His disappearance has been hard on the family.
The family has lived with so many questions. Their son Brian still wonders what happened to his father. While the family doesn’t believe he is alive, they desperately want answers.
“That we would find out what happened, or, you know, bring it to a close,” Hall said. “It’s too much. It’s hard on Brian, very hard. Sometimes he’ll stay up all night thinking about it, or he has a whole file on it. And he just wants closure.”
Hall says Porter lived to help recovering alcoholics.
His friend John Goodnight describes Albert as a good friend and a great guy.
He last saw him the night before Albert disappeared.
“There was something about our conversation that didn’t sit right with me. To this day I can’t tell you what it is,” Goodnight said.
Goodnight’s conversation was likely the last Albert had with anyone.
“It’s intense because you’re constantly looking for information from what I’ve seen happen and where and he’s missing. He just good one day and gone the next,” Goodnight said.
Fort Myers police Det. Vincent Doyle said finding Albert is a priority. That’s why he was one of the people handing out flyers on Friday morning.
Police said Albert hasn’t touched his bank account since he went missing.
“It’s difficult,” Doyle said. “It also hits home too because we all have parents.
“We all have elderly in our lives that we don’t ever want this to happen (to).”
A woman named Tiffany Contestabile remains a person of interest in Albert’s case.
Doyle said she was found in his vehicle.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Fort Myers police.