Florida canal remains identified as woman missing since 1985

A Texas lab has matched Florida remains to Rose Gayhart, the Dansville, New York, woman who vanished in 1985, giving investigators a name for a case that stretched across more than four decades. Livingston County Sheriff’s deputies said the identification was confirmed in May using DNA previously collected from Gayhart’s family members.

Gayhart’s case ties New York investigators to a Palm Beach County death that had already been in the records for years. A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office report dated Dec. 27, 2023 said children playing in a heavily wooded area south of Forest Hill Boulevard and west of Jog Road found the remains on Jan. 12, 1985, near a canal bank. Detectives ruled the death a homicide after finding a gunshot wound.

The identification shows what modern DNA testing can still do with old evidence. By comparing genetic material from the remains with family reference samples, technicians were able to attach Gayhart’s name to remains that had gone unidentified for decades, a process that has become one of the most important tools in cold-case work.

That advance brings a measure of resolution to Gayhart’s disappearance, but it does not change the original cause of death. Investigators had already determined the case was a homicide because of the gunshot wound, and the DNA match now separates the victim’s identity from the unanswered criminal question that remains at the center of the file.