Over two years after a South Florida woman's body was found in Key Largo, detectives are still trying to crack the mysterious cold case.
"We do not not want an unsolved case," Mark Coleman said Wednesday. The veteran Monroe County detective has a thick file in a white binder that details the investigation into the death of Christine Kaye.
"We can't call it a homicide, but at the same time, we've got to get to the bottom of what exactly happened," Coleman said. "There's too many unanswered questions here."
Kaye's body was likely dumped at a roadside and rolled into one of the canals that snake their way from the gulf into the lake east of U.S. 1.
"They found her over there" said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Aaron Smith, pointing to thick mangrove trees just yards west of the Jewfish Creek bridge.
Kaye was 48 when she died. She left a 23-year-old daughter, a failed marriage and serious drug problem. Her ex-husband says she would disappear for weeks at a time, often on the streets of Riveria Beach.
The body was discovered October 27th of 2009. No cause of death has been determined but drugs were found in Kaye's system. She was wrapped in a plastic material.
No one reported Kaye missing and her former husband was located using her fingerprints.
Detectives said Kaye had a series of minor brushes with the law over the years.
"She was not a major criminal, was probably a person who just made some bad choices," said Detective Coleman.
Coleman continues to work the case, looking through a series of mug shots and driver's license photos in the case book. Kaye was a pretty woman, the camera not revealing her demons.
"We don't want to have to go to the family, her family, and say 'Sorry, I don't know,' that's what we don't want to do," Coleman said. "We want to keep working, doing everything we can."
Anyone with information is asked to call The Sheriff's Office Homicide Unit at 305-289-2410.
