Human remains discovered in Polk County late last year have been positively identified as Kelly Vazquez of Valrico, who has been missing since May 21, 2021, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said Saturday evening.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office located the remains on September 25, 2023 and notified Vazquez's family of the positive identification last week.
The investigation continues as Hillsborough and Polk sheriff's investigators work to determine the cause of Vazquez's death, a Hillsborough sheriff's office news release said. No further details were released.
Before she went missing, Vazquez, 21, returned to the Valrico home where she lived with her grandmother around 9 a.m. and said she had been at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa the previous evening. She picked up some clothes, said she would be back in a few hours and left again with a man she was dating, her grandmother Maria Vazquez told the Tampa Bay Times in 2021.
A friend from out of state video messaged Vazquez later that afternoon as she shopped with two men at Walmart. This friend, Madison Repsher, told the Just In 2021, Vazquez mentioned that she might go to the casino again before the call was canceled. Vazquez later texted that her service was poor because she was “in the middle of nowhere.”
A day later, Maria Vazquez received a text message from her granddaughter's phone saying she was on her way home. But she never returned.
Search efforts for Vazquez had previously focused on Keysville, an unincorporated area near Lithia that borders the Polk County line.
In June 2021, a person came forward in possession of Kelly Vazquez's two iPhones, an older one without maintenance and the one she was using when she disappeared, Maria Vazquez said at the time.
“After years of dedicated investigations, we are closing a chapter of uncertainty that has haunted this community since 2021,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a written statement. “Through collaborative efforts, we have located the remains of Kelly Vasquez and hope that with this discovery we can bring some measure of peace to her family in the midst of their deep grief.”
