After Crime Stories Calls Out Police, Tallahassee PD Deploys Divers at Lake Esther To Search for Missing Lori Paige, 12

Police in Florida sent divers to a lake in Tallahassee’s San Luis Mission Park on Tuesday to search for a missing middle schooler who was last seen near the park in June 2023.

It was the first time Tallahassee Police had sent a dive team to search for 12-year-old Lori Paige since her disappearance, and it came on the heals of a 100-person search in the park a week earlier.

The divers found nothing, however, Tallahassee Police spokesperson Heather Merrit told WCTV.

“TPD was utilizing [the Leon County Sheriff’s Office’s] Dive Team today in their ongoing search for Lori Paige,” Merrit said. “We are continuing to explore all avenues and angles in this case, and [we] remain committed to finding Lori.”

“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 renewed focus on Paige’s disappearance appears to follow scrutiny from Nancy Grace and Crime Stories, which reported the story earlier this month.

Paige was last seen on June 3, 2023, at her father’s home, just a few blocks from the park in northwest Tallahassee. She disappeared overnight, while her father was at work. Margie Summers, a paraprofessional at Griffin Middle School who worked closely with the girl, told Crime Stories that local media and police paid attention to the case for a few weeks after the disappearance, but the focus dropped off.

Paige is described as 5 feet tall and 120 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. The FBI has offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to the missing girl.

Anyone with information should call Tallahassee Police at 850-891-4200.

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[Featured image: Lori Paige/FBI]