Going West: True Crime - Carol Woolsoncroft // 100

Episode Date: December 23, 2020

*In 1984 in Fort Myers, Florida, my mom's sister went missing after she planned to break up with her boyfriend. She wrote a letter to her parents while they were on vacation regarding her fears towards him, so they knew something was wrong when they returned home and she was nowhere to be found. Years later, he went on to murder more women- but her body has never been discovered. He’s known to have told people that the police would never find her. And upon his last questioning regarding her, he laughed and spit in the detectives face without saying a word. This is the disappearance of Carol Woolsoncroft.* *BONUS EPISODES:* patreon.com/goingwestpodcast Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Heath, and I'm your other host, Daphne, in your listening to Going West. Holy cow, we have reached 100 episodes. 100 episodes, guys. Thank you so much for listening to 100 episodes of going west. We really appreciate everyone's support. And today we have an extra special episode because this is the story of my mom's sister's disappearance.

Heath and I have been holding on to this story just wanting to have a bigger audience before we share it So that we can get it out there because this story is so little known and we really want to get it out there and Get it solved. Yeah, absolutely and not only that we've we've had talks of possibly doing something along the lines of a Documentary with this case. Yes, absolutely and we also have a Q&A at the end of the episode. We did want an episode 50, and we've got a lot of requests to do another one, so that'll be at the end of this case. Yes, so you guys will have a longer episode this week.

After checking out this episode, if you're all caught up on going west, you've listened to all 100 episodes, and you want to hear some more of us, we do have over 30 bonus episodes available on Patreon. They're ad-free, they're full length, and like I said, there's over 30 of them. So go ahead and check out patreon.com slash going west podcast. We release new episodes every single month, and it's the best way that you can help support

the show other than tell a friend. Exactly, if you guys want to support us and you love going west, please head over to patreon.com slash going west podcast and subscribe. We have a great community of people over there, a huge library of episodes for you guys to listen to, so definitely go over and check that out. We always do Patreon shoutouts for everyone who joins at the end of the show, so don't forget to listen for your name. Alright guys, without further ado, this is episode 100 of Going West, so let's sister went missing after she planned to break up with her boyfriend. She wrote a letter to her parents while they were on vacation regarding her fears towards him, so they knew something was wrong immediately. Years later, he went on to murder more women,

but her body has never been found. He's known to have told people that the police would never find her. And upon his last questioning regarding her, he spit in the detective's face and didn't say a word. But she deserves justice. This is the disappearance of Carol Wilson Croft was born on July 12, 1964 in Buffalo, New York to parents Anne and Ed Wilson Croft.

And she also had an older sister who was born two years earlier, and that's my mom, Laurie. They grew up in Kenmore, which is a very small town just outside of Buffalo in upstate New York. But when Carol was eight years old, they all moved to Fort Myers, Florida for a change of weather. Obviously, upstate New York is a very cold place, whereas Florida isn't, and Ed owned a swimming pool company. So much better business in Florida as well. Yeah, that sounds awesome, actually. He also owned a snowmobile company, I think it was in. And so I guess he kind of left that behind in New York Yeah, he switched out the snowmobiles for the swimming pool exactly

Carol grew up as an acrobat and a softball player so she was extremely active and made friends super easily because she was So outgoing She was always the girl who had friends over and through parties as a teenager She was always the girl who had friends over and through parties as a teenager, but she was always very respectful and was close to her parents. And her parents, my grandparents, were super easy going as well and they loved all of her friends. So these parties were never secretive or necessarily wild, and Anna and Ed stuck around the house for them a lot of the times and just enjoyed the company. So it was all just this big fun thing and her and her parents were just really, really tight.

In 1980, when Carol was 15 and nearing 16, Ann and Ed decided they wanted to move to Boulder, Colorado. They took a lot of vacations to Colorado throughout Carol and Lori's upbringing and they decided to try living there because it was so beautiful and they were getting sick of the Florida heat.

And you know what, that's like you lived in Colorado. It's amazing. Yeah, it's absolutely beautiful. So Lori didn't come with them though. And this is when she saved up enough money to move to Los Angeles. So she went there to work in the music industry while Carol and an Ed moved to Boulder. Carol spent her junior year of high school in Boulder, which must have been a bit tough, but like Daphne said, she was very outgoing and she made friends pretty easy. But after one year, Carol and her parents moved back to Florida because, according to Daphne's grandma, there was a big, hippie movement coming into the area with lots of young people,

and Anne and Ed sort of felt out of place. So back to Fort Myers they went. Carol graduated from Cape Coral High School and then continued to live at home for the next couple years. But then in late spring of 1984, Carol was just a couple months away from her 20th birthday. At that time she had a conversation with her parents about saving up money and moving out since it was kind of that time. So Carol got a new job as a server at a restaurant called Raffles Bar and Grill in the Edison Mall in Fort Myers, Florida.

While at this job, she obviously became close to a lot of her co-workers, and one of those people included a cook named Eugene Lafay. Eugene was born on April 23rd, 1960, so he was four years older than Carol, and at this time he was 24, and he was a first-gen kid because his parents were from Puerto Rico, but raised their kids in Florida. He and Carol headed off well and started dating sometime during the summer of 1984, and he was even introduced to Anne and Ed who thought that he was a super charming guy and my grandma has told me this before she says that you know they they really liked him when

they met him. So after just a month of dating they moved in together to a house in Fort Myers which is a coastal city in southwest Florida where she had spent much of her life and they were sharing the house with another young couple that they knew. It wasn't long until Carol and Eugene's relationship became rocky. Basically Eugene Lafay had a very bad temper in general, and this also came out at work in the kitchen, and it made a lot of his co-workers very uncomfortable. So he was fired from this job that July, which only worsened his temper. Just after Carol's 20th birthday, and July, and an ed went on a trip to Colorado to visit some friends in their camper trailer. But after arriving, they received a call from Carol,

stating that she was worried about things with Eugene because she had found out that he was a drug dealer and some sketchy people had been coming by the house and it made her feel very uncomfortable. Her parents told her to go to her grandma's house and mom who lived nearby until they got back the following week, but Carol said that she was afraid to go there because Eugene knew where her grandma lived. And my grandma Anne has told me that during this conversation

that they had with Carol, it didn't seem super serious. Like it was just kind of like, she was uncomfortable, she kind of wanted to leave, and it wasn't this crazy thing. It was just kind of like, just something that made her uncomfortable and they wanted to support her, but it wasn't super serious right here. Right. So Carol wasn't blowing the situation out of proportion.

Yeah. She was just saying, hey, I'm kind of uncomfortable with this, And they're like, okay, well, go to your grandma's, you know, we'll be back soon from our trip. And they just figured that, you know, they'd return the following week and kind of help her get out of that situation and everything would be fine. But a few days later, they received a letter from Carol at the place they were staying that said that Eugene had been hitting her and she was getting even more scared and he had even threatened her life. She was writing the letter because she couldn't safely make the phone call without Eugene

hearing or knowing. And at that point, my grandparents and an ed were much more worried and wrote her a letter back saying that they were going to come back early and help her and she just go way to their house until they returned on Tuesday, August 7th, which was days later. But still at this point, they really didn't think that her life was in danger. They were just like, oh man, we got to get around this situation, but they didn't fly back. It was just kind of like, okay, honey, we'll be there in a few days. Like, don't worry, we're going to help. But they still didn't feel this huge sense of urgency because it just wasn't that way

in their conversation. Well, and also, yeah, kind of have to think about it in terms of the time frame. Back in those days, I feel like domestic violence was somewhat more not talked about. It wasn't as serious of a thing. You know what I'm you know what i'm saying yeah i haven't really thought about that way but you're totally right yeah like i feel like stuff like that happened all the time and people just said oh well that's just something normal that happens in relationships between couples but now i mean nowadays we take it very very seriously which we should have always but yeah it was we take it very very seriously. Which we should have always, but yeah, it was. Things used to be very different, and this was the early 80s, and of course it's not like they were like,

oh, he's hitting you, no problem, you know? But it wasn't, it definitely wasn't like it is today. Right, and depending on how Carol was making out the situation, and depending on the wording in the letter, you'd be able to determine whether or not it was extremely serious, or if it could wait a couple days, that's sort of thing. Exactly. And by the way, these conversations carried out throughout the end of July and early August of 1984. And on Tuesday, August 7th, and an ed returned to their home in Cape Coral, Florida, which is a coastal town right next to Fort Myers.

They saw Carol's rust-colored 1981 Mazda GLC Chevrolet in the driveway, so they were excited that she was at their home. But when they went inside, she was nowhere to be found. And when they went into the kitchen, they saw a note from Eugene that said, Carol has left and I don't know where she is. See me as soon as you get home. So at that point, they were really worried because again, her car was in the driveway and on top of that, her keys were in the ignition. And they had come home early from their trip specifically because Carol was scared of Eugene. And now he leaves a note in

their kitchen that she's missing? This just didn't make any sense to them. So after they found this note, they drove over to Carol and Eugene's house to see what was going on, and they were met with Eugene acting in complete hysterics. He was emotional in explaining that he hadn't seen Carol for a couple days. Originally, Annen Ed believed that Carol had followed their instructions and had gone to her grandma's house. But after contacting her and Carol's friends, no one knew where she was. While looking around the house, Ann noticed that a bunch of Carol's clothes seemed to be missing, but her jewelry wasn't.

And this was strange because Carol was very feminine and loved her jewelry This isn't something that she would leave behind She also left behind all of her makeup and this was another thing She never left the house without makeup at all like not even to go the store Then Ed noticed a gun on Eugene's dresser and asked why he had a gun to which Eugene responded that it was for protection And an Ed had a gut feeling to which Eugene responded that it was for protection. And an ad had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. So that morning at around 11.30 a.m.,

they went to the Lee County Sheriff's Department and filed a missing persons report on their 20-year-old daughter. So a couple months ago, my twin sent me this box of goodies from a company she knew I would love because she knows me because they're vegan and amazing and I love CBD. I cannot stress this enough. I love them and I'm talking about Kefla organics. Okay, so here's the breakdown of what Kefla does. They make delicious products with CBD including chocolate, drink mixes and CBD oil. For their drink mixes, they have golden latte, hot cocoa and chai latte. Oh yeah, the Hot Coco is my current obsession. I just had a cup before this actually.

And we just got this order yesterday. I've already made two cups, made one last night and this morning. It's like a really good cup of hot cocoa that made me feel so relaxed and happy. I love it. And the ingredients are amazing. It's all vegan and fair trade and they use coconut sugar to sweeten it. For the chocolate bars, you can just eat them as is or even melt them into hot milk. I like using soy milk or coffee to have a warm drink, which is perfect for the cold months that are upon us. From the moment you look at Keflas branding, you're going to love them. And the team behind the magic are just really good people who care about the product they're making. And the pricing is also amazing.

If you go to a coffee shop and ask for a drink with 25 milligrams of CBD, which is what's in Kephla products, it'll cost you at least $6. Trust me, I've had a lot of CBD coffees these days. But now you can enjoy one at your very own home for about two to three dollars, depending on what Caffla products you try. I also had a Caffla product before we recorded this. I had the chocolate bar and it's amazing. So you guys need to try Caffla. We can't rave about them and they're uniquely delicious products enough. So head on over to Caffla Organics. That's kefla.organax.com

and get 20% off your order using code going west 20. That's kafflaorganics.com using code going west 20 no spaces. So what are you guys waiting for? Go get some Kaff Catholic products. My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm an investigative journalist, and I'm excited to tell you about my new podcast from the Obsessed Network called Unjust and Unsolved. Each episode tells the story of a person who I believe has been wrongfully incarcerated.

The Innocence Project gives a conservative estimate that there are over 20,000 innocent people locked away in US prisons. When I learned this, I sent letters to those whose stories haunted me. I heard back from almost everyone. They all wanted to be heard. And so on unjust and unsolved, I'm doing just that.

I speak with those people, their loved ones, advocates, and lawyers, diving deep into the crimes they were convicted of, and presenting the evidence that points away from them. And if it wasn't them, then who was it? Help me search for an answer. You can find unjust and unsolved and all obsessed network podcasts on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening right now. I think we can all agree that this year has been super, super tough, and you probably find yourself needing someone to talk to. Better Help is here to assist. Better Help matches you with a licensed professional therapist that you can call, text, or video chat from the comfort of your own home. Especially in these hard times when we're practicing social distancing, this is a safe and

private way for you to connect with a therapist on your own schedule. It's an incredibly affordable way for you to get the help that you need, and financial aid is available. Whether you're dealing with depression, anxiety, trauma, LGBTQ matters, anger or anything in between. Better Help is the convenient and confidential way to talk it through. If you're even just thinking about getting help or talking to someone, you should really just do it because better help is such an amazing and helpful experience that Heath and I have both really benefited from.

This service is available worldwide, so what are you waiting for? Start living a happier life today. As a listener, you'll get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com slash going west. Join over one million people and counting, taking charge of their mental health. Again, that's betterhelp.com slash going west. When Anne and Ed Walsencroft headed down to the Sheriff's Department and filed a report, they explained everything that had happened over the past week. That Carol had called them concerned about Eugene's drug dealing, that she had written a letter

explaining Eugene's abusive behavior in him threatening her life, the letter in the kitchen, the gun on Eugene's dresser, everything. The officer became very concerned when hearing about Eugene's gun, and then explained to Ann and Ed that Eugene wasn't allowed to have a gun because he was on probation They were confused and pressed on to which the officer then explained that a couple years prior while he was in his early 20s Eugene had raped a 15-year-old girl and threatened her with a metal club She did file a police report and Eugene was imprisoned for three years for this rape, but he was released shortly after on probation. He also impregnated this girl, but we're unsure what happened with

this pregnancy. So we know that Eugene has a very violent past. Yeah, and Anne and Ed were obviously completely shocked by this and disgusted because they had no idea that Eugene had a criminal pass, especially one of raping a minor. Yeah, and he may have withheld that information from Carol as well. Well, exactly. And, you know, they had already just learned about the drug dealing, which was shocking enough, but they knew that if Carol was aware of this rape, she would have wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, like, no way. This is when it started looking like Eugene Lafay was behind wherever Carol was. So police called him down to the station for questioning. Eugene said that he had last seen Carol three days prior, which was Saturday, August 4, 1984, when she was taking a shower at their home.

He told police that around noon, he left to go see some relatives, and when he returned a few hours later, she was gone, along with her car and some of her clothes. But when police checked up on this and questioned the relatives that he mentioned, they told police that they didn't see him at all that weekend. Oh, so right off the bat,

police find out that Eugene is lying. Yeah, I mean, this is your alibi. And it's just right off the bat, it's not true. Yeah, shattered. Yeah, that's obviously very suspicious. And it's also odd to me that Eugene didn't report her missing himself, like they lived together and he hadn't seen her in over three days.

Right. If I lived with a girlfriend or something like that and she went and she disappeared, well, I live with a fiance. That's true. But I mean, if like if you disappeared within hours, I would be contacting police. Even if you woke up the next morning and still didn't know where I was, you'd be like, all right, no, this is something's wrong. Yeah, this something's not right. So the fact that it took him three days and then he still wasn't the one to report her missing is weird. And then we also know that Carol's car was found at her parents' house, where there was also a note from Eugene, meaning that he had also been there.

So did he take Carol's car there to maybe plant it and act like a concerned boyfriend and then leave the scene, or did she actually go there and then he found her there and something happened after. But my grandparents and police knew that something was very wrong right away. And my grandma also noted that on that day, which again was Tuesday, August 7, Carol had a dentist appointment, which she obviously missed. And she was also supposed to take her grandma to the airport, and Carol would have never missed these things and she wouldn't go away without letting those close to her, especially her parents know where she was.

On top of this, Eugene's family denied seeing him was obviously very suspicious because this means that Eugene's alibi wasn't checking out. So, please went to question his father Eugene Lafay Sr. at his home and Lehigh Acres, which is about 15 miles or 25 kilometers outside of Fort Myers. Eugene Sr. was timid and afraid at first, which was a red flag for investigators. And they assured him that whatever information he had, they would keep him safe. And that's when Eugene Sr. told them what happened a few nights prior on Saturday, August 4th, the day that Carol was last seen. Eugene Sr. stated that on that Saturday night, Eugene and his brother came over and were acting incredibly aggressive towards him, and demanding to use his shovel and car.

He then said that his sons put a large object in the back of his Buick regal and then drove off. About four or five hours later, they returned and Eugene burned the shovel in his backyard before warning his dad not to tell anyone about what he saw. Luckily Eugene senior kept track of his mileage and noted that his son had put 14 miles or 22.5 kilometers on his car which he also told police about. And this is all just so crazy in itself because like oh my god that's so incriminating. And also by the way my mom Laurie, so Carol's sister, told me this week when I was talking to her about it that she distinctly

remembers being told twice that police had recovered a shovel in Eugene seniors backyard that had blood and hair on it. And since the police won't let us see the case files, I don't know if this is true, but she says she specifically remembers this. So I'm not sure how this didn't lead to an arrest, because this sounds like huge evidence, like blood and hair. Yeah, and the most frustrating part about this case is obviously the fact that Carol is missing, but on top of that, the fact that police won't relay these case files with family members. Well, and we'll obviously tell the rest of the story and talk more about this after, but it is really frustrating for me because, you know, I'm the true crime podcaster in

the family, so I'm the one who's really, really interested in this case, whereas my mom and my grandma are more like, you know, this is something terrible that happened and they try to stay really positive about it, but they're not actively seeking answers because it's really painful for them. But to me, I'm like, we need to find justice. So it's really hard when I contact the police department, which I'm sure so many other families that we talk about on this podcast have this same issue where the police is just like, oh, the case is still open and we can't give you anything, but it's like, but what are you doing?

Like, you're not doing anything. Right, if you're not actively working on a case, then why don't you close the case and give me the case files? You know what I mean? Right, or just why can't you just share them? Let's all put our heads together. I don't understand. Yeah, I don't understand that at all. So once news of Carol's disappearance started spreading around the area,

some people started coming forward with more information. Carol's co-workers at Raffles Restaurant told police that Carol talked to them about breaking up with Eugene that Saturday, August 4th, the day she went missing. And that's never a good sign. Exactly. And we know he has a temper. They also mentioned that on Friday, August 3rd, Eugene had shown up at the restaurant, again which he was fired from, and gotten into an argument with Carol.

Afterwards, Carol went out with some close friends and told them about her plan to break up with Eugene as well. A man came forward and told police that Eugene and told him in casual conversation that he killed Carol and that quote, they'll never find her. Then a witness came forward and stated that on Saturday, August 4th at 4.15pm, she believes to have seen Carol and Eugene in a rust-colored vehicle, which is what Carol had, and they were fighting. She described the man to have darker skin, which Eugene had because he was Puerto Rican, and Carol to have light hair and light skin, which was also true.

They were stopped at a traffic light under the Kallusa Hachi River Bridge, and the witness heard the young woman in the car pleading the man to just take her to work. And Carol did have a shift that day at the restaurant, which she missed. So it's believed that Carol possibly tried to break up with Eugene before her work shift and then something happened. And by the way, the Kallusa Hachi River Bridge is less than 10 minutes away from where Carol works at the Edison Mall.

It's just under 4 miles or 6.4 kilometers. And she had a shift that day at 4.45 pm, which was just around 30 minutes after this woman likely saw them. So I think this is a pretty viable witness. At this point, it's hard to not believe that Eugene Lafay did this because of the shovel, because of the information about the car.

And there's so much more that's coming up, but just already, you're like, this guy had to have done it. Yeah, you're like, this fucking piece of shit did this. Absolutely. So one month after Carol's disappearance, a psychic looked at a photo of Carol and apparently got the sense of where her remains were. A wooded area of Bonita Springs, Florida, which is 30 miles or 48 kilometers south of Fort Myers.

He told police that he was a part-time psychic, but he didn't give his name. And that when he looked at a photo of Carol, he saw her in that area and he also saw whizzing cars in a rural area off of US 41, which is the highway that runs from Fort Myers down to Bonita Springs and beyond. This area by the way is not within the 14 miles or 22.5 kilometers of Eugene's dad's house. The psychic gave a specific location to police, and when they arrived, they actually found a decomposed baby girl in a wooded area. Oh my God, that's horrifying.

So the guy was kinda not wrong about there being a body in that area. Which, this is just so weird to me. I don't really know that much about psychics. I don't know, I really don't. But this is crazy. Yeah, very crazy. And the baby still had the umbilical cord attached

and was wrapped in two towels and stuffed in a black trash bag. So really horrifying scene there. The Lee County Medical Examiner was able to determine that the baby was born alive, but her body was too decomposed to determine what her cause of death was. So that's extremely tragic, geez. I know.

And you know, we obviously we don't know who the baby girl was or how she died, but apparently police confirmed that the baby had no relation to Carol. I don't really know any other details from that. I just found that in a newspaper and I remember my grandma telling me that too because they were just so weirded out by it. And also my grandparents did really want to give psychics to try because to them they're like we need any answer from anywhere. We just need to know. Right. And when it's a case like this involving a family member, I mean you pretty much put hope into anything that you can. Exactly. So my grandpa Ed, Carol's dad,

contacted eight other psychics on the East Coast, hoping that they could bring answers since the police hadn't been able to find anything at this point. And this was, you know, within about a month or so of Carol disappearing. So they did really try, but nothing else was really discovered through this. At this time, Anne and Ed did have a really great relationship with the detectives and they knew that they were working hard on this case. But again they wanted to try everything. And they also posted a $5,000 reward which is equivalent to $12,000 today for any information leading to

Carol's return. Seven months after Carol's disappearance, Eugene left Florida and moved to New York where he continued to cause trouble. Upon arrival, he and his sister started robbing and sometimes stabbing cab drivers for all of their money. He was jailed for robbery shortly after this but was eventually released where he committed even more heinous crimes as he got older. In 2008, 48-year-old Eugene Lafay was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison after he stabbed 27-year-old Cheryl Greaves in her Harlem apartment while Cheryl's one and three-year-old daughters were in

the apartment in December of 2006. But two months before this murder occurred in October of 2006, he bludgeoned his 50-year-old girlfriend, Mariah Navarro, and Mariah's nine-year-old daughter to death with a hammer in their upper west side apartment. So this guy is a monster. He is a monster, like truly a monster. So we already know that he's capable of killing people, so what does that tell us? Exactly. They were found dead in their respective bedrooms nine days later. Eugene had been living with Mariah and he was considered a suspect

for this when he murdered Cheryl Greaves. But it wasn't until after his arrest for Cheryl's murder that he was also found to have murdered Mariah and her daughter as well. It's obviously horrible to murder anybody, but if you're going to murder a nine-year-old girl, like, oh my god. Yes. You have no soul. It's really unbelievable.

Four years after Eugene's imprisonment in 2012, one of the original detectives on Carol's case was retiring and went to Eugene one last time in hopes of finding answers. And he called my mom and grandma Anne to explain what happened and it went like this. He sat in a room with Eugene and told him to just tell him where Carol was. After some time of Eugene sitting in silence, he spit at the detective and said, fuck you, before getting up and asking to leave the room. This was the last known time that Eugene was questioned about Carol's disappearance, and just four years after this, Eugene Lafay died in prison at the age of 56, eight years after entering prison.

We haven't been able to access the information regarding how he died, but anything he knows has now been taken to the grave. The frustrating part here is that, I'm sure he has family members that he told about Carol, and they may know the situation. Like, for example, his brother.

I know, and I always say that. It's his brother, and then he was committing crimes in New York with his sister. There's no way that they didn't know. And if I truly believe that his brother helped him bury Carol that night, and they were gone for four to five hours. And I actually talked to Tim and Lance of crawlspace about this. And at that time, I didn't know how much time they were gone for, but I was able to find out that it was between four and five hours. And I remember lands bringing up like, it makes a

difference how long they were gone because we know that there was only 14 miles put on the car, you know, seven miles out, seven miles in. But the time makes a difference because that helps us determine whether she was buried or maybe just thrown into a swamp, you know what I mean? So four to five hours and they come back dirty and sweaty, I believe that they buried her somewhere out there. Yeah, absolutely, because it does take quite a bit of time to do that, you have to dig, and then you have to put the dirt back over someone's body.

I could imagine it would take quite a while to do something like that. Oh, totally, it is not a quick thing. And that's why I believe that that's what they were doing. Especially if you're trying to put 14 miles into four to five hours. Right, and then also they gotta find the right spot, they gotta drive around, they gotta figure that out, you know?

And that's the other thing about the 14 miles is did they drive around or did they go directly to somewhere? I'm not sure. But a woman named Kim did reach out to me. She mentioned that from all this time since 1984, the areas within seven, the seven mile radius of Eugene's dad's house, like let's take that area,

over all this time, the areas that have not been constructed on where there's not new developments etc. Those are the areas that we need to focus on to look for her remains. It is wooded, we can't do sonar, I've already talked to the police about that. So this would have to be an actual search but personally I don't know how you look for remains that are that old, is there equipment that you like a how you look for remains that are that old. Is there equipment that you like a metal detector, but for bones, like does that exist? I don't know. And it was kind of incredible when we were talking to our good friend, Michelle

Kazuba and Tim and Lance and Kim as well about this. We were talking about developments and we were talking about what a map of Lehigh Acres looked like back then compared to now, and new developments. Now there are buildings and housing developments and things like that. So it's kind of interesting when you get to talking about certain things like this. Exactly. And it was really helpful to kind of talk to somebody who knows more about it, who is Kim, because I don't know about this kind of stuff.

And so it is really helpful when we can all put our heads together because the only way that we're really going to find out what happened to Carol's if we find her remains, or if his brother Eugene's brother or sister is still alive and would somehow be willing to give up that information, which I just they don't seem like great people. So I don't know if they'd be willing to help. I mean, who knows that the fact of the matter is that there's probably at least one relative still living of Eugene Lafayze. So it's possible that that person is still out there with this information.

And, you know, you and I have talked about doing a docu-series or a documentary on this case specifically, or another podcast, but it's something that we're still looking forward to doing in the future. Yeah, I mean, I would love to travel over to Florida and talk to the detectives because I have been in contact with them over the years and it's just it's really frustrating that I feel like we we can't they won't give us the case files. The only information that we can really get is from the old original detectives who are willing to tell what they remember. But again, this was a while ago.

This was almost 40 years ago. Yeah. And on top of all of this, Carol's bank account was never touched. She never picked up her last check from work and she left her clothes at the dry cleaners. And about 80% of her clothes went missing but her car was left at her parents house, so what does that tell you? She would have never left without telling her parents who she was incredibly close with, so there's this heavy speculation that she was murdered. She was an incredibly hard worker who was working towards

saving money to move to California to be with her sister Laurie, whose Daphne's mom. But she never got to do that sadly. Since Eugene is dead, our only hope of finding justice for Carol is to find her remains. If you're in any way connected to this case, whether you or someone you know was friends with Carol or worked with her, please contact us at GoingWestPodcast at gmail.com. We'd love to talk to you for a future project regarding Carol and help figure out exactly what happened to her. Or if you think you could help in any way, let us know.

We're really hoping to narrow down this search for Carol. We really believe she's within a distance of Eugene's dad's house and would like to find her remains somehow. And by the way, Eugene's dad died at the age of 90 in the year 2000, so we can't talk to him. If you know anyone, or if you personally have any useful information for this case, please contact the Lee County Sheriff's Department in Fort Myers, Florida. And thank you so much everybody for listening to this.

Please, please, please share this case with everybody you know. Share it on your social media. We really need to get this case out there because nobody knows about it and we really believe that it's solvable. And my mom and my grandma really just want justice and so do we. So if you could just share it, that would mean the world to us. And thank you so much for listening. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, episode 100 of Going West. So the Q&A actually is not gonna fit, so I put it in a separate bonus episode

of anybody wants to listen to that, and if not, happy holidays to all, and thank you so much for listening and sharing this story.