Search continues for missing Mount Dora woman
MOUNT DORA — Who killed Nicole Baldwin and where are her remains?
Those are the questions that have stumped police, who first reported the 41-year-old as missing and later as a homicide victim in November.
It is not as if they haven’t tried to find the answers.
On April 12, the Mount Dora Police Department teamed up with dive teams from Lake, Sumter, Seminole and Volusia law enforcement agencies to search lakes at Loch Leven, a subdivision next to where she lived on Swathmore Circle in the Lancaster subdivision off County Road 44. Divers had searched lakes behind her home a few months ago.
“It’s extremely hard to solve a homicide without any remains, so we’re going to continue to look,” Mount Dora Detective Gary Hutcheson told reporters at a press conference.
A bulletin put out by Mount Dora police on Nov. 5 said Baldwin “was last seen on Nov. 2 by her 20-year-old daughter the day before.” Baldwin is the mother of three children. Alisha is 20.
The bulletin showed a photo of Baldwin smiling and holding a cat. The bulletin said she was last seen wearing a pink nightgown, which was shown in a photo that accompanied the bulletin. She was not wearing shoes.
Police said all of her personal belongings, including her purse, wallet, and Apple watch, were found in the house. Her car was not taken.
Nicole has a tattoo of a rose on her right hand and flowers on her left shoulder going down to her elbow.
Crimeline is offering a $5,000 reward. People can call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS or criminal investigators at the Mount Dora Police Department at 352-735-7130, or policedeptcidemail@cityofmountdora.com.
Terri Rogers has organized community search efforts, including the one on April 12. She has told reporters that she does not know Nicole but wanted to help after her niece disappeared in Polk County.
In January, she was dismayed when police searched her home and computer. “I’ve not done anything wrong,” she told a WKMG Channel 6 reporter.
Alisha reportedly joined the search for her mother on April 12.
Nicole's husband, Brett, was arrested the following month on federal child pornography charges.
The department has said the charges against Brett were unrelated to his wife's disappearance. However, Detective Gary Hutcheson told the Daily Commercial that the search for Nichole led to his arrest.
A federal grand jury indicted him on four counts of possessing images of children younger than 12 engaging in sexual acts on the following dates: Nov. 28, Dec. 9, Dec. 10 and Dec. 11. Investigators seized two Apple phones, according to federal court records.
He remains in jail in Ocala, where he will be prosecuted by attorneys with the Middle District of Florida.
The family moved to Lake County a few years ago from Pennsylvania. She was not working when she disappeared, Hutcheson said.
Hutcheson has declined to say if investigators have any persons of interest or suspects, or to say what steps have been taken in trying to find Nicole Baldwin.
“All the information we have obtained to secure search warrants and the reports themselves have been sealed by the court. If we start releasing information it could jeopardize the sealed data,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Police ask: Who killed Nicole Baldwin and where are her remains?
