DELAND, Fla. — An unexpected tool, and marine partnership, is being used to solve a cold case.
Members of law enforcement in Florida are using an otter to help find human remains underwater.
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“I love you babe.”
Those were the last words Nicole Baldwin told her daughter before she vanished.
“She’s very loving, she just woke up every day and had her children in mind,” Alisha Baldwin said about her mother.
Nicole Baldwin was last seen at her home in Mount Dora on Nov. 2, 2023.
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Alisha Baldwin went to her family’s home the next day, minutes after her dad sent her a text.
“Good morning. I paid rent today, so I don’t have a lot left. So when you can, I could really use the rest of that money. Thanks. I’ll see you later. Oh, and by the way, Matt or somebody came to pick up your mother because she’s not home,” her father’s text said.
When Alisha Baldwin got to the house, she said things didn’t make sense.
“Her purse was just in the bathroom,” Alisha Baldwin said. “Her phone was in the bathroom. Her wallet was in the bathroom. It was all set up in such a weird spot.”
Brett Baldwin, Nicole’s husband, is currently in prison on unrelated charges. Detectives say he has denied any involvement in his wife’s disappearance.
Still, investigators said they noticed unusual movements after police contacted him and the tracking of his home had detectives believing Nicole’s remains may have been disposed of in water.
“We’re still attempting to find Nicole’s remains at this point,” a detective said. “We believe she is dead, because there’s nothing that says she’s alive. She left everything behind.”
The pond in DeLand was drained and searched. Now, there’s a focus on a body of water near Nicole Baldwin’s home, thanks to technology and an unexpected tool.
“At first I was skeptical,” a detective said. “But once we unpacked the science behind it, we realized this might actually work.”
The tool in question? An otter named Splash.
Splash is an Asian small clawed otter who is trained to detect human remains underwater.
He releases air bubbles that capture and carry scents to the surface, allowing him to pinpoint areas of interest for divers and investigators.
And Splash has “hit” in a Mt. Dora pond, detectives said.
It’s a pond detectives have searched with dogs and will search again when the weather cooperates.
“We are still actively investigating the case,” detectives said.
Law enforcement hopes that the new tools and continued dedication to finding Nicole will bring closure to everyone.
“Yeah, hopefully. I mean, that’s our hope,” a detective said.
Police say they do have a motive when it comes to their person of interest, but would not go into specifics.
Splash, in case you were wondering, has been on more than 20 missions so far and his handler said he has helped find 20 sets of remains.
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