WUFT News News and Public Media for North Central Florida from the University of Florida in Gainesville
The Citrus County Sheriff’s office began searching Monday for a body that has been missing for 20 years. However, as of Friday evening, the search had proved unfruitful.
Citrus County media relations manager Heather Yates said the search is for the body of Margot Register, who went missing in January of 1994. The search was sparked after the sheriff’s office received a tip about the body’s location.
Yates said the tip, which was received some months ago, was from a source who claimed to have seen Register’s body. Yates attributes the delay between notification and the start of the search to a permitting and paperwork process.
She said the search has been demanding, with officers combing through a flooded and heavily wooded area tangled in tree roots.
“It has just been a very lengthy and delicate process,” she said.
Margo’s husband at the time Willis Register was suspected for her disappearance, and is currently serving life in prison for an unrelated murder.
“Our biggest priority is to find Margot and to bring closure to her family, because they’ve never had that,” Yates said.
Sean Stewart-Muniz edited this story online.
