Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Body of missing woman found
A Fort Lauderdale woman’s body was found about 10 blocks from where she vanished two weeks ago along a busy state road, police said Wednesday.
Cherie Lynn Solomon Shields, 43, went missing March 26 from Southwest Fourth Avenue and State Road 84, in the blocks near landmark restaurants Anthony’s Runway 84 and Lester’s Diner.
The body of the former marketing executive was found Tuesday morning at 1111 Southwest 28th St.
Police won’t say how she may have died, calling the case a death investigation.
Her husband, Edward Shields, 48, said Wednesday they had been together 20 years and would have celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary on April 16.
The couple lived on the west side of Interstate 95, near St. Jerome Catholic Church, south of State Road 84, within walking distance to where Shields disappeared and where her body was found.
Michelle Roonoe, 42, of North Lauderdale, was a friend of Cherie Shields since they graduated as members of Stranahan High, Class of ’93. She said the Shields were very involved with St. Jerome’s.
“She adored her husband and he worshipped the ground she walked on,” said Roonoe, who started a GoFundMe page to build a reward for information about where Shields might be.
Roonoe called Shields “a ’60s throwback, a loving, free spirit who loved art and anything creative.”
Shields was a crafter. Her Christmas cards would be embellished with calligraphy and the envelopes would be decorated, too.
Roonoe last saw Shields at a Christmas party in December.
“She fed her friends, and never let anyone go hungry, just like her mother used to do,” Roonoe said.
The Shields did not have children, and she would dote on Bella, their dachshund, and Lola, their Chug, a Chihuahua-pug mix.
“She would dress them up and take them to the park and put them on the swings,” Roonoe said. “She really had a heart of gold. There are a lot of people that loved her.”
Fort Lauderdale police ask anyone with information about Shields to call Sgt. Steve Novak at 954-828-5556, Detective Mark Breen at 954-828-5708 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477. That organization accepts anonymous tips and pays up to $3,000 for information that leads to an arrest.