TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Tallahassee Police sent a dive team to search Lake Esther in the capital city Tuesday as part of their efforts to locate a missing middle schooler.
Lori Paige, 12, was last seen near San Luis Mission Park in June 2023. Exactly a week after nearly 100 people searched the wooded park for the student, TPD quietly deployed a Leon County Sheriff’s Office dive team to search the lake there for her.
“TPD was utilizing LCSO’s Dive Team today in their ongoing search for Lori Paige,” TPD spokesperson Heather Merrit wrote in a message to WCTV. “We are continuing to explore all avenues and angles in this case, and [we] remain committed to finding Lori.”
It was the first time TPD has sent a dive team to the lake to search for Paige in an official capacity, according to the Tallahassee Police public information officer.
However, the divers came up empty-handed, Merrit said. She told WCTV the search Tuesday was to complete the probe the department started last week at San Luis Mission Park.
“Law enforcement did not find anything today during the search,” she wrote. “In terms of searching the lake before, the dive team trains regularly and has trained in this lake prior to today’s focused search. TPD has canvassed this area before, and searched the edge of the lake as part of the grid search last week.
The 12-year-old was last seen on Continental Court, just blocks from San Luis Mission Park in northwest Tallahassee, according to TPD. The department says she was about 5 feet tall and 120 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She has brown eyes and black, shoulder-length hair.
Community concern has heightened as the time since the student was last seen grows. A Griffin Middle School employee who worked with Paige has long advocated for residents to aid in the girl’s search, describing the 12-year-old as kind, intelligent and driven.
Authorities have recently raised the stakes in solving Paige’s disappearance. As dozens of TPD and Tallahassee Fire authorities searched San Luis Mission Park for the girl last week, the FBI announced a $15,000 reward in her case. It’s the first reward law enforcement has issued to aid in locating her.
Anyone with information on Lori Paige’s disappearance or whereabouts is urged to report that information to TPD by calling 850-891-4200.
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