Searchers looking for a Florida mom who disappeared last month have found an SUV, driven by Stephanie Hollingsworth when she was last seen, submerged in a retention pond in east Orange County, WFTV reports.
Orlando Police say there is a body inside the vehicle, but they have not confirmed the identity of the remains. Drone pilots helping with the search spotted the submerged vehicle, police said.
Detectives said that the license plate on the vehicle matches that of Hollingsworth’s SUV, the Orlando Sentinel said.
Hollingsworth left her Belle Isle home at about 2 p.m. on September 25 to run errands. She withdrew $20 cash from a nearby bank and was seen in surveillance footage walking down a Walmart aisle later that day, as CrimeOnline previously reported.
Scott Hollingsworth, Stephanie’s husband, said it was completely out of character for his wife, who’s a yoga instructor and mother of three sons, to simply vanish. Security footage at the bank and Walmart didn’t show anything unusual and Hollingsworth didn’t appear to be troubled or distressed. She left the Walmart alone.
Family members said she did leave her cell phone at home.
Earlier this week, authorities announced that Scott Hollingsworth and other immediate family members were not and had not been considered suspects in her disappearance.
“She’s an amazing person, an amazing mother. She’s a beautiful soul and just gave everything she had to everyone in her life,” Scott Hollingsworth said. “A lot of people loved her, and anyone could always count on her.”
Stephanie Hollingsworth is described as a white female who stands 5-feet-4-inches tall and weighs around 115 pounds. She has brown eyes and brown hair.
A previous $5,000 reward for information that leads to Hollingsworth has now been increased to $10,000.
Anyone with information on Stephanie Hollingsworth’s whereabouts is asked to call the Belle Isle Police Department via the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch number at 407-836-4357.
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[Feature Photo: Stephanie Hollingsworth/Police Handout]
