After nearly twelve years of uncertainty, the family of Trukita Scott now has the painful confirmation they feared — and the answers they long deserved. Fort Lauderdale police announced Tuesday that human remains discovered last week in the backyard of an abandoned home in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood have been positively identified as those of Scott, a 24-year-old mother of two who vanished on June 25, 2014.
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Scott was last seen in Miami Gardens after leaving her job at a U-Haul location in Fort Lauderdale. Alarm spread when she failed to pick up her children from daycare that same evening. She had been working two jobs at the time and dreamed of a career as a police officer, having gone on a ride-along with the Miami Gardens Police Department just one week before she disappeared. Those who knew her say she had no history of leaving without warning and would never have abandoned her children.
Her car was later found partially burned, but there was no trace of Scott herself. Suspicion quickly turned to her ex-boyfriend, Carl Monty Watts Jr., the father of her son. Watts had a prior criminal history that included kidnapping and sex offenses, and witnesses reported he was physically abusive toward Scott and had threatened her. Scott’s father said she had been warned not to go see Watts alone, but she believed she would be safe.
In April, while serving a 45-year sentence for the 2022 murder of his wife, Shandell Harris — whom he attacked and then shot at her daughter’s swim lesson — Watts broke his silence and led investigators to Scott’s remains. On May 12, a multi-agency operation recovered the remains, which were later confirmed through dental records. Watts has not yet been charged in Scott’s death; the Florida Attorney General’s office is reviewing the case.
Scott’s father, Charles Scott, urged other parents to act on their instincts: “I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through with my daughter. It’s hard — stay in touch with your kids. If you see something not right, you can do something about it.”
Her aunt offered a tribute to the woman her family will always remember: “We choose to remember Trukita for the love she gave and the lives she touched.”
