Cape Coral police chief: Two people are the main focus of Gayhart case

For Laurie Travis, memories of her sister – like the photographs – are trapped in time. Rose Marie Gayhart was only 23 years old when she went missing in March of 1985. "It was very hard. It's been hard for 41 years,” Travis said of her sister’s disappearance. "She was a very good-hearted person." Now, finally, investigators are a step closer to solving the mystery that's four decades in the making. Two weeks ago, forensic crews swarmed an empty lot along a canal at Kismet Parkway and Northeast 19th Avenue in Cape Coral. It's where a teenager found a human skull back in 2024. Police have now confirmed — the skull is Rose's. In the latest search this month, detectives found more bones — and are now calling it a homicide case. There's much more to the mystery that still needs to be solved. BEFORE THE DISAPPEARANCE: ‘TROUBLE IN THE HOME’ Gayhart disappeared just months after she’d moved to Florida. She came to the area from New York with her boyfriend, Bob Paddock, and his mother, Dorothy Rittenhouse. The three lived in a trailer together in North Fort Myers. Things seemed good at first, but that eventually changed, according to Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore. “We know from past interviews that there was domestic trouble in the home. She had written letters back to her family,” Sizemore said. “We've got accounts that she had visible injuries that were consistent with domestic violence. There was one report where she had a suitcase and left." Sizemore said a witness at the time also reported an argument over a pregnancy: that Rose wanted to keep the baby, but Bob did not. "That's what we've heard, you know, (but) not direct," Sizemore said. "That was a source of some of the arguments." "There was either a witness statement or a report that Bob and his mother were displeased that she was intending on a keeping a baby to term," Sizemore continued. "But we don't even know if she definitively was (pregnant)." Sizemore said Bob's mother has since passed away, and that Bob moved back to New York shortly after Rose went missing. Detectives interviewed him again in recent weeks. “When we talk specifically about Rose and specifically about finding her, (Bob) was pretty quick to want to talk about something else,” Sizemore said. “Is that in and of itself evidence to charge someone? No, it's not, but it definitely is not what I would look at, or investigators would look at as normal behavior." At this point, Sizemore is not calling Paddock a suspect — only a person of interest. Gulf Coast News called him to ask about the case. He said he had nothing to do with it and did not want to talk further. ANOTHER AVENUE FOR INVESTIGATORS: A NOW-DEAD SERIAL KILLER There are other avenues that detectives are exploring. Sizemore said that in the days before Gayhart disappeared, at least two witnesses saw her leaving her job on Southeast 47th Terrace in Cape Coral and getting into a red truck with an unknown white male. Other reports also indicated that she was seen at a couple of bars with that same unidentified male. That's raised questions about a man named Roland Davis, a now-deceased suspected serial killer whose mom owned a pub that Gayhart frequented. "One of the possibilities is somebody who was convicted of multiple murders,” Sizemore said. “It doesn't mean that he did it or is involved in it. But you as a competent investigator, you must look at it." "We don't believe the red truck was involved,” Travis, Gayhart's sister, said. “We think it was just said to cover it up." Sizemore said it will likely take a key witness — or even the killer — to come forward in order to solve a case this old. "You owe it to really the investigative profession to look at all possibilities. And it could be somebody that's not Bob or not Roland Davis," he said. "But common sense will tell you that you've got two people you really need to work to find answers." GAYHART’S FAMILY: ‘CLOSURE MEANS JUSTICE’ Gayhart’s family is grateful she's finally been found after more than 40 years. But for them, this isn't an end. It's only the beginning. "I just hope that they find whoever it was and they pay for it — because we went through a lot," Travis said. "This isn't closure. Closure means justice. And I will fight to the end." DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.