Mount Dora Police finished draining a pond in Deltona June 18 and found no evidence of a woman missing since November 2023, said city of Mount Dora spokeswoman Misty Sommer.
Nicole Baldwin, 41, was last seen at her Mount Dora home Nov. 2, 2023, at around 11:30 p.m., according to media reports.
No evidence was found indicating that Baldwin was in the 4-acre retention pond on DeBary Avenue between Enterprise and North roads, Sommer said.
Mount Dora Police started draining the pond June 17.
Mount Dora Police believe missing woman was murdered
According to a Mount Dora Police news release, Baldwin disappeared in November 2023 and, despite extensive search efforts over the past two years, she has not been found.
“Based on the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, the case is being investigated as a homicide,” the Mount Dora Police news release said.
Earlier on the day she went missing, Baldwin was a guest at her daughter’s 20th birthday celebration, according to media reports. Her belongings, including her cellphone, were found at her home, as was her car.
Mount Dora Police, working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Fifth Judicial Circuit’s State Attorney’s Office, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Transportation District 5, developed leads that investigators are following, the agency said.
The new leads had detectives examine multiple areas of interest, including the Deltona retention pond, where potential evidence was believed to exist, but none has been discovered, the police department said.
The investigation into Baldwin’s disappearance remains active, and “detectives are committed to pursuing every available lead and resource to locate Nicole Baldwin and provide answers to her family and the community,” the Mount Dora Police Department stated in the news release.
Anyone with information related to this case is urged to contact the Mount Dora Police Department at 352-735-7130 or submit an anonymous tip through Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Mount Dora Police empty Deltona pond in search of missing woman
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
