The remains of a Fort Lauderdale woman who disappeared more than a decade ago have been found buried in a Miami neighborhood, police confirmed Tuesday, bringing a long-running missing persons case to a grim conclusion.
Fort Lauderdale police and the Broward Sheriff’s Office announced that the remains of Trukita Scott were discovered in early May in the yard of a home in Little Haiti. Scott was last seen on June 25, 2014, after leaving her job at a U-Haul location in Fort Lauderdale and never returning home.
Authorities said Scott, a mother of two who was 24 at the time of her disappearance, failed to pick up her children from daycare, prompting an immediate search when she could not be reached.
“Pretty quickly thereafter, we in law enforcement agreed… that something wasn’t right, that Trukita didn’t leave on her own,” said Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy Detective Steve Novak during a news conference.
Her car was later found abandoned and partially burned in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood in July 2014, an act investigators believe was intended to destroy evidence.
Despite early investigative efforts and multiple tips, the case went cold for years as no trace of Scott was found.
At Tuesday’s news conference, investigators said a breakthrough came after a witness provided information that included details previously known only to law enforcement, leading detectives to focus on a possible burial site in the Little Haiti area.
Scott’s remains were eventually recovered from the yard of a residential property, authorities said.
Family members, who have spent nearly 12 years searching for answers, were present at the announcement.
“It’s been a long 12 years, every day thinking about her… until a week ago when they told us they exhumed the body,” said her father, Charles Scott. “It’s not gonna give us 100% closure, but now we know what happened.”
Her mother, in a statement read by a relative, expressed anguish over the long wait for answers.
“For 11 years, 10 months and 44 days, my daughter was someone’s lawn fertilizer and you tell me nobody saw anything?” she said.
Authorities said Scott’s disappearance has long been treated as a homicide investigation. Her family had previously suspected her ex-boyfriend, Carl Monty Watts, who is also the father of one of her children.
Watts was interviewed multiple times during the initial investigation but denied involvement, according to police.
Investigators later linked Watts to a series of violent incidents. Months before Scott disappeared, he was captured on surveillance video attempting to abduct a teenager from a bus stop, police said. He later surrendered but was released on bond.
In 2022, Watts was arrested and later convicted in an unrelated case for the shooting death of his then-wife at a Miami-Dade community center while she watched her child’s swimming lesson. He is currently serving a 45-year prison sentence for that killing.
Police said that while incarcerated, Watts recently made admissions about Scott’s disappearance and directed investigators to the location where her remains were found.
“During recent court proceedings, Watts made admissions regarding his involvement in Trukita’s disappearance and ultimately provided us with information that led to the location where she had been buried,” Novak said.
As of Tuesday, Watts has not been charged in connection with Scott’s death. Authorities said the investigation remains ongoing, and they are working with the Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution to determine whether additional charges will be filed.
