Broward mom's 25-year disappearance may be solved after new underwater discovery
Since April 2000, Libby Dibenedetto's disappearance after a night out with friends left her loved ones heartbroken and bewildered.
Now, 25 years later, her family may have finally closed an agonizing chapter in their lives after a sonar company that specializes in solving missing person cold cases announced Tuesday it had discovered Dibenedetto's remains over the weekend.
April 11, 2000 was the last day anyone had seen Dibenedetto or her beige 1996 Toyota Camry, which was adorned with Florida Marlins and Miami Dolphins stickers. The mother of three had left Duke's Bar and Grill in Davie around 1:30 a.m. and never reached her mother's home in Sunrise, where she stayed after a recent divorce.
Clues on her possible whereabouts were sparse, but authorities at least knew the last action she took: making a phone call to her therapist from a payphone near North Pine Island Road and West Sunrise Boulevard.
Decades passed, and the trail went cold on where Dibenedetto went or what happened to her. In July 2022, Sunshine State Sonar commenced its search for her, reviving the case. For morethan two and a half years, the sonar company searched about 400 bodies of water in Broward County.
Then on Sunday, around 3:50 p.m., the team found Dibenedetto's Toyota Camry — with skeletal remains inside — submerged 13 ft. deep in a small pond near West Sunrise Boulevard and North Flamingo Road in Plantation. Plantation Fire Rescue assisted with removing the Camry safely from the waters.
Sunshine State Sonar declared finding Dibenedetto's remains a victory, as it brought a measure of closure to her family.
Sunrise Police Department told the Miami Herald it has yet to confirm the remains are Dibenedetto, but is working on closing the book on this cold case.
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