The remains of a Fort Lauderdale woman who vanished more than a decade ago have been found buried in Miami, police said Tuesday.
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Trukita Scott had been last seen on June 25, 2014, but nearly 12 years later, investigators said they’ve solved her disappearance.
Police and family members held a news conference Tuesday to announce the development.
“It’s been a long 12 years, every day thinking about her, trying to put this together, what it really means, until a week ago when they told us they exhumed the body,” father Charles Scott said. “It’s not gonna give us 100% closure but now we know what happened, where the body’s at and everything that’s going on there so we can move forward a little bit.”
Family members became concerned when Scott, a mother of two who was 24 at the time, didn’t pick up her kids from daycare and never showed up at home.
Surveillance video showed her working her last shift at a West Park U-Haul before she disappeared.
Scott’s car was found abandoned by police in July of 2014 in Liberty City. At Tuesday’s news conference, authorities said the car was set on fire in an attempt to hide or destroy evidence.
Investigators received received tips and ran down the leads but none panned out.
Scott’s family immediately suspected foul play involving her ex-boyfriend and the mother of one of her children, Carl Watts.
Watts was interviewed multiple times but told investigators he had nothing to do with Scott’s disappearance and didn’t know where she was, investigators said.
Steve Novak, a former Fort Lauderdale Police homicide detective who now works for the Broward Sheriff’s Office, said a witness came forward with details known only to law enforcement.
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Among those details was information that the murder had occurred at a Budget Inn and that Scott’s body was possibly buried in the Little Haiti area, Novak said.
Investigators were still unable to find the body but continued to investigate and determined Scott had met Watts at a Budget Inn on South Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale before all activity on her cellphone stopped, Novak said.
Then, on April 3, 2022, Watts was arrested for fatally shooting his wife, 30-year-old Shandell Harris, at a Jewish Community Center in northeast Miami-Dade.
Novak said Watts was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the killing of Harris, but in recent court proceedings had made admissions about his involvement in Scott’s disappearance.
Watts ultimately gave information that led to the discovery of remains at an abandoned home in the 7500 block of Northeast 1st Court, Novak said.
On May 12, Fort Lauderdale Police, BSO, Miami Police and other agencies conducted an all-day recovery operation at the home and uncovered the remains.
Dental records later identified the remains as Scott, Novak said.
“While nothing can undo the pain her family has endured over nearly 12 years today we finally have answers and more importantly they can bring Trukita home, properly lay her to rest and begin closing this chapter of the story,” Novak said.
The investigation is ongoing and a decision on whether Watts will be charged in Scott’s disappearance or death will be handled by the Florida Attorney General’s office, Novak said.
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