Two years after the disappearance of Porter Albert, detectives believe they know who is responsible.
Tiffany Contestable was found driving Albert’s car the same day he disappeared.
Contestable and her mother were homeless at the time of Albert’s disappearance. He helped them before he disappeared.
Albert was last seen in a Big Lots parking lot in North Fort Myers on Jan. 15, 2020.
Jim Domalik has been friends with Albert for years.
“He was helping her and her mother for a couple years as far as I know,” Domalik said.
Domalik said Albert helped the pair get on their feet and established.
Fort Myers police Det. Vincent Doyle said evidence points to Contestable, the only person of interest in the case.
Police released footage of Contestable’s interactions with the Cape Coral Police Department the day she was pulled over in Albert’s car.
She was arrested that night for driving without a license.
Investigators say she gave different stories to Cape Coral and Fort Myers police about why she was in Albert’s car.
“We firmly believe she knows far more than what she has shared about what may have led up to (Albert) disappearing,” Doyle said. “There is definitely some very very suspicious circumstances, shes been untruthful when she was put on a polygraph.”
From the beginning, Doyle said, the case has been investigated as a worst-case scenario – a homicide.
For Domalik, this was the first time he learned Contestable was being deceitful.
“I’m not surprised,” Domalik said.
Before seeing the video released by Crime Stoppers, he just thought that maybe that Contestable did not know what happened to Albert.
But that has since changed.
Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers’ Trish Routte said whenever police interviewed Contestable, she was always emotionless.
“This is a man who was kinda like a grandfather to her,” Routte said. “He pulled her and her mother out of the woods they were living in … this is a guy who really extended himself for them and then he goes missing and all of a sudden you don’t care.”
Crime Stoppers said they believe Contestable may be in Arkansas. Her mother is not a person of interest, police said.
To contact Crime Stoppers call 1-800-780-8477.