Search for Belle Isle woman presses on 3 weeks after disappearance

When Stephanie Hollingsworth celebrated her son’s 21st birthday at Marlow’s Tavern last month, the 50-year-old yoga instructor and mother of three had plans to seek help to address her struggles with alcoholism and get on a path to healing.

“Strong Stephanie is back,” she told her father that night, according to her husband.

But Hollingsworth disappeared two days later, on Sept. 25, along with her champagne-colored Chevrolet SUV Tahoe with a faded hood, roof rack and tinted windows. She was last seen by a surveillance camera at about 2 p.m. at the Walmart located at 5991 South Goldenrod Rd.

Extensive search efforts have, in the three weeks since her disappearance, failed to find her or the SUV. But police and loved ones aren’t giving up, employing extensive community outreach — and satellite technology — as well as offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her discovery.

The case has made national news and attracted widespread attention online.

“We are driven to find Stephanie because we want this family to have closure,” said family friend Larry Miles, who has helped bring attention to Hollingsworth’s case through social media. “Whatever the scenario is, good or bad. If

Stephanie is safe right now, thank God. That means our prayers are answered.”

‘She was a fighter’

Stephanie Hollingsworth is a certified yoga instructor, with a special interest in aerial yoga, her husband Scott Hollingsworth said.

He installed an aerial hammock in the dining room of their Belle Island home for her, where the 5-foot-4, 115-pound mother practiced her malleable twists and stretches every day, he said.

On the day she disappeared, Scott Hollingsworth said he initially assumed his wife was out running errands, but grew worried when she didn’t return home that night.

She took her purse and wallet but left her cell phone at home, which wasn’t uncommon.

“She kind of worked at 100 miles an hour,” he said. “Run and go, that’s how she was. She was very high-energy.”

He later found a backpack full of belongings that she had packed, which led him to believe she had checked herself into a mental health facility.

“She was a fighter. She was prepared to heal herself,” he said.

He also thought she might have been at the yoga studio that day. Weeks later, he now believes his wife of almost 25 years headed east on Narcoossee Road toward Lake Nona, based on reported sightings.

The Belle Isle Police Department is working with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Orlando Police Department on the case, Scott Hollingsworth said.

BIPD Chief Laura Houston did not respond to repeated requests for an interview, but issued a statement Thursday ruling Scott Hollingsworth and other immediate family members out as persons of interest.

“Scott has been exceedingly cooperative with us throughout the investigation and has supplied all the information requested by detectives. We will not be commenting any further on this matter,” she said.

The BIPD incident report of her disappearance said she had no scars or marks, but her husband said she had three tattoos: angel wings on her neck, his name “Scott” on her ring finger and a cross with geometric shapes on her wrist.

Satellite company joins search

Hundreds of friends, relatives and strangers have volunteered to help with search parties in the Central Florida area, dividing up sections on aerial maps, Scott Hollingsworth said. Friend and attorney Dan Newlin donated the use of his helicopter, as well.

Online, thousands have offered supportive messages, suggested possible search tactics and locations, and shared calls for volunteers.

The Facebook group “Searching for Stephanie

Hollingsworth Official” had more than 5,000 members as of Friday.

One woman posted a link to the Reba song, “The Only Promise That Remains.”

“This is for you Stephanie. If, by any chance, you see this post, I hope you will view it, and that it will somehow touch your inner soul with the message that your friends and family are devastated over your disappearance,” she wrote.

The resources behind Hollingsworth’s search extended to new heights after family and friends at a Tuesday press conference called on companies such as SpaceX, L3 Harris Technologies and Microsoft to help in their search for Hollingsworth.

Bill Moore, a real estate agent and former police detective of more than a decade, pleaded for the geospace and technology giants to look for stored satellite images of Hollingsworth’s car at the Walmart and nearby Bank of America, where $20 was withdrawn from her bank account at the ATM minutes before she entered the store.

“If we can get lucky to have a satellite passing overhead to capture her either walking to the car or the car leaving that parking space and going out to one of the entrances, that is a valuable lead,” he said.

Moore told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday that Maxar, a geospace company that provides satellite images to Google Earth, had responded and offered to help.

The company helped locate debris of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in 2014 through a crowdsourcing campaign. Moore said that search effort was what gave him the idea to apply the same methods to finding Hollingsworth.

“I requested that they work with their partners, perhaps Google, to reestablish a crowdsourcing platform that would cover basically a smaller scale of area compared to an ocean,” Moore said.

Jason Sand, senior director of strategic international programs at Maxar, said in a press release that the company will use two satellites to do a “collect of the area.”

Boat searches are also planned. Taylor Valdes, coowner of Fleetwood Bass Fishing in Orlando, enlisted help from other fishermen to use underwater imaging sonar and fish finders to scour Central Florida lakes. The initiative is scheduled to start 6 a.m. Saturday.

“I’m also a mother, so it hits close to home,” Valdes told the Sentinel. “We just wanted to help any way that we could.

BIPD Detective Jeremy Millis told the Orlando Sentinel that police are receiving 15 to 20 Crimeline tips about the case daily. He encourages anyone with resources to continue reaching out, especially those with buggies and fourwheel-drive vehicles that can go places an aerial view might miss.

“Just get in there and try and find every nook and cranny, especially locals, because a lot of locals know where the hideout areas are,” Millis said.