He offered to take her to her doctor's appointment. She had been feeling sick for a few days now and they just needed to see if everything was alright. He took her to the waiting area and told her that he was quickly going to run some errands and that he would be back in an hour.
He waited for hours on end for his wife to come back, but she never did. The clues that led to the solution came from an old photograph and a new clue 42 years later.
She Felt Sick
The last time that anybody saw Florence Stevens was on 3 August 1975. The 36-year-old worked at a ski resort in the Catskill Mountains. She was a lively woman who was always up for an adventure.
On 3rd August, she felt quite ill and immediately made a doctor's appointment. As soon as she got an appointment, her husband drove her to the clinic in Monticello, New York. However, as he went to go pick her up, he could not find her anywhere.
They Gave Up Hope
Nobody knew where Flora was. Her husband opened a missing person's case and did everything in his power to find his wife. Detectives and members of the community did their best to help him find her.
However, after months of searching and trying to find answers the case eventually went cold. They did everything in their power but they had to admit defeat. It would never have occurred to them that almost half a century later, the case would be reopened.
A New Discovery
Yan Solomon, a senior investigator with the New York State Police, found out about something that gave him answers to a case he had never even heard of until just days prior. There had been a discovery of a woman's remains, and he was desperately trying to identify her.
He quickly grabbed his phone after his revelation.
A Difficult Task
Solomon contacted the sheriff in Sullivan Country and asked to speak to a detective immediately. The remains were discovered near the Catskills. They needed to identify the woman, however, it was a daunting task. Annually, more than 70,000 women over the age of 18 go missing in the United States.
Identifying this woman was going to be a challenging task. But they refused to give up and came up with a great solution.
Up To The Challenge
In January 2016, 21,894 missing women investigations were active throughout the United States, but some cases have since gone cold. While family members are puzzled over what happened to these women, they are still seeking answers.
Solomon was well aware that he was in for a difficult challenge. He'd have to sift through scores of open cases for anything that resembled the woman they'd discovered. This resulted in a number of potential matches. Until one grabbed his attention.
Trying His Best
Solomon went to Sullivan County and continued his investigation despite his lack of optimism.
He made the decision to streamline the investigation. He then conducted regional searches to determine the woman's identification. He realized the woman they had found had to be from the area based on their evidence and began his search for answers.
Limited Information
As it turns out, Sullivan County had an open case that matched the description of the woman to the T. Solomon got excited at the prospect of closing the case. Solomon requested that the investigators review this woman's file in order to see whether she had any relatives.
The woman's file was dated all the way back to 1975. There was not a lot of information in the file, however, one thing did have the potential to be useful.
Success!
Solomon referred the case to the Sullivan County detectives. Detective Rich Morgan was responsible for connecting the woman's remains to the 1975 case. They had discovered amazing new information when examining the file of the missing woman. Her job identification was discovered.
It appears that the woman worked in the Catskill Mountains. In 1975, a 36-year-old woman disappeared and was never seen again. The woman was Flora Stevens. But that wasn't the only remarkable find.
The Connection
Detective Morgan had pieced something together. In many respects, the lady they discovered was tied to the cold case. He then began to delve deeper into Flora Stevens' life. Her husband has been searching desperately for her since she mysteriously disappeared. He had left her off to a doctor's visit, but when he returned to pick her up, she was gone.
Her case was opened after that, but no progress was made. Flora's husband died ten years after she vanished, and the case remained unsolved until today.
Tough Job
Detective Morgan had a pretty tough job on his hands. With no relatives and no one he could speak to about Flora, he did not know how to prove that this was the woman whose remains had been found.
He began looking through local and national databases and discovered one crucial clue – someone was using Flora Steven's social security number in Massachusetts. Who could it be?
The Search Began
He tracked down the social security number to an assisted living facility north of Boston. He was disgusted. Someone had stolen a missing woman's social security number and used it for who knows what.
Detective Morgan called the facility, and the staff there confirmed that the number belonged to a Flora, but her last name was not Stevens. It was Harris and had been in the facility since 2001. Who was that woman?
Checking The Facility
Detective Morgan and another investigator went to the place in question. They could not believe what they had found. A case that went cold so many years ago was unraveling before their eyes.
Admittedly, this meant something. The women shared the same first name, birth date, and social security but a different last name. They had to talk to this Flora. Was this an identity theft case?
Only One Photo
The detectives went there with the only picture of Flora in the database, her old work ID she used while she was at the Catskill Mountains. They headed over to see Flora, and as they introduced themselves, she did something that left the detectives gasping.
Flora took the picture and pointed at it. She said that in the photo it was her. How could this be possible? But then, they showed her a picture of her husband, and she uttered the name "Robert." They had found the missing woman.
Still A Mystery
Sadly, Flora couldn't clear up the mystery surrounding her disappearance. She suffered from dementia and didn't remember anything from the last 42 years.
Sullivan County had officially closed the case. They confirmed Flora Harris was indeed Flora Stevens. It is not too often that you get to solve a 42-year-old missing person case. But one must wonder what really happened to the woman so many years ago.