Fort Lauderdale police say they may finally be closing in on answers in a 10-year-old missing-person case, after uncovering human remains that could be tied to the 2014 disappearance of Trukita Scott. Investigators plan to hold a news conference Tuesday, and Scott’s family is expected to attend, once again confronting the loss that left her two young children without their mother.
According to NBC6 South Florida, police scheduled the briefing for Tuesday and said they will address the discovery of the remains. The station reports that Scott’s relatives are expected to join officials at the podium, but police have not publicly revealed where the remains were found or whether they have been formally identified. Even without those details, the announcement has pushed the long-quiet case back into the spotlight.
Official case records
Fort Lauderdale Police Department records indicate that Scott, identified in official files as Trukita Jaquita Scott, was reported missing on June 26, 2014, after she failed to pick up her two children and did not return home, according to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. The department’s missing-person flyer lays out her identifying details, her associated vehicle and a detective contact for anyone with information.
Timeline and clues
Surveillance footage reportedly captured Scott working what would be her final shift at a West Park U-Haul location before she vanished, and about a week later a gold 2007 Nissan Altima registered in her name was recovered in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, per The Charley Project. Those slivers of evidence, combined with persistent family outreach, kept the disappearance from fading entirely from public memory. With the discovery of the remains, investigators and relatives are now staring down a new round of questions and renewed investigative work.
Family questions and a person of interest
For years, Scott’s relatives have publicly urged investigators to keep a close eye on an ex-boyfriend, Carl Monty Watts Jr. Reporting by The Daily Beast notes that detectives questioned Watts after Scott disappeared and that he later faced charges in a separate killing. Those later developments helped refocus attention on unsolved cases linked to Watts, although authorities have not tied him to the newly discovered remains. Officials have not said whether this latest development affects the status of any person of interest or could lead to criminal charges.
What investigators say and how to help…