Remains found during search for mother, child who vanished 50 years ago in Florida

TAMPA, Fla. ( WFLA ) — A decades-long mystery surrounding the disappearance of a Florida mother and her 3-year-old child is believed to have been solved after skeletal remains were unearthed in a canal on Sunday, according to police.

In a Tuesday press release , Plantation Police explained that in November 1974, a mother and her young daughter were reported missing from their home, just outside of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The woman’s 1961 Chevrolet Impala was also missing.

While they did not identify the mother and daughter in Tuesday’s press release, those details align with a missing persons alert for Doris Wurst and her daughter, Caren, who were 35 and 3 when they disappeared in November 1974.

According to police, a year after their disappearance, the case was declared cold. At least nine times since the late 1970s, follow-up investigations were conducted, but the mother and daughter were never found.

In June 2023, local authorities partnered with Sunshine State Sonar, an organization that conducts searches for missing person cases in South Florida, to work on the Wurst case.

Then on Sunday, Sunshine State Sonar found what appeared to be a car in a canal just a few miles from where Doris and Caren’s home had been. A dive search revealed the vehicle was a 1960s model Chevrolet Impala, according to Plantain Police.

Inside the vehicle, police said, “skeletal remains consistent with an adult and small child were located.” Those remains, as well as the Impala, were recovered. Sunshine State Sonar also said toys, clothing, and shoes were inside the car.

“There was a hole in the roof on the vehicle and as I got right above the top of the vehicle I shined my flashlight in that hole and I saw what I didn’t know what it was at the time. It looked like a purse or little briefcase,” Michael Sullivan of Sunshine State Sonar told local outlet WTVJ . “I grabbed it and when I got it up to the surface and saw what it was – it was a Fisher Price kids toy. Me and my brother just looked at each other and it was a pretty emotional moment because, to us, it was Caren, it was Caren saying, ‘I’m here, you got me.'”

Sunshine State Sonar believes the remains found in the car belong to Doris and Caren.

Plantation Police said, “The next of kin have been notified of the likelihood that the remains of their loved ones have been located, but the names are being withheld until proper identification of the deceased can be verified via DNA/Dental Records.”

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