On the day before Mother’s Day, Sharon Ardelean mustered up the strength to once again take on her worst nightmare directly.
It had been a year since her daughter, Misti Whitfield, disappeared somewhere along Hillsborough Avenue, in Tampa. Since then, she, her husband, Mel, and Tampa Police Department Det. Scott Bullard have scoured the county for clues. They’ve searched woods, dug up yards and even deployed cadaver canines — in hopes of locating the missing Plant City mother of five.
To commemorate the anniversary of Whitfield’s disappearance — and, hopefully, to generate new leads in the case — the Ardeleans hosted May 10, the second candlelight vigil for their missing daughter.
It worked.
“Over the last couple of days, because of the vigil, we have some of the best leads we have ever had,” said Whitfield’s stepfather Mel Ardelean. “The words we are using are ‘cautiously optimistic.’ We feel closer. We’ve got some good things going, and those leads are being pursued as we speak. Right now, this case does not feel like a cold case.”
Sharon Ardelean agreed: “This case will be solved. I know it will.”
Since Whitfield’s disappearance, the Ardeleans, who own Cuzzins Bar, in Historic Downtown Plant City, have committed nearly every waking moment and every resource to find their daughter. In the beginning, they hired private investigators to bolster Tampa Police efforts. They have taken to Facebook and garnered plenty of leads through Whitfield’s extensive network of friends and acquaintances. They also adopted one of Whitfield’s children.
“We, as a family, we get down, we get up,” Mel Ardelean said. “We get tired. We cry. We laugh, sometimes. We pray. We help Misti’s kids get through this ordeal. We grieve. And we hope. That’s what we do.
“What we don’t do is give up,” he said. “We won’t quit. We won’t give up. We won’t rest until the perpetrators of this crime are arrested, put in jail and prosecuted.”
According to Bullard, Whitfield was attending a party May 2, 2013, near Nautical Marine, 5525 W. Hillsborough Ave. She got into an argument with a person there and then left the party. She walked about three miles, until she came into contact with another person, whom Bullard has interviewed multiple times, and hasn’t been seen since.
“We classify this as a missing person case, because, technically, there is no evidence to indicate that she has been killed,” Bullard said. “Having said that, the probability that she is not alive is great. I can’t, definitively, say that she was murdered. I can’t say that there wasn’t an accident. I can’t say that she didn’t have some kind of health issue, and somebody panicked.
“I have no doubt that she was more than likely picked up on Hillsborough Avenue by somebody that she knows,” he said. “She may have communicated with somebody at a convenience store and asked for a ride and said, ‘Hey, can I get a ride to Eastern Hillsborough County, Plant City, Seffner, Thonotosassa area?’”
The Ardeleans believe Whitfield’s body will be found in Plant City or Eastern Hillsborough. However, Bullard said currently, he has nothing concrete to support that theory.
“There, specifically, is no evidence that she made it back to Plant City,” he said. “But, the people she associates with are in the Seffner, Thonotosassa area. If somebody out there has given her a ride to this area, it might be able to close a gap or fill a piece of the puzzle in for me in this investigation.”
So far, the investigation has taken Bullard to many places throughout the county.
“We’ve searched lakes; we’ve searched ponds,” Bullard said. “We’ve searched swamps. We’ve searched woods. We’ve done three or four canine searches. We’ve had dive team searches. We’ve had helicopter searches. We’ve done red-light traffic-signal searches, using video surveillance searches and thousands and thousands and thousands of interviews trying to find out where she is.”
The Ardeleans praised Bullard and his department for the work they have done.
“We, as a family, have worked with the homicide department and Det. Scott Bullard from day one,” Mel Ardelean said. “He told me he will solve this case — no matter what. He is doing everything possible. This is a serious case, and he is working on it as hard as he can.”
Bullard agreed.
“All I want to do — and all the family wants to do — is get her back,” he said. “Let us make the determination of how she passed away after we get her. It could have been an accident. If somebody knows something about an accident, call me and tell me it was an accident. If somebody knows it’s an overdose, call me and let me know. If somebody thinks it’s intentional, call me and let me know. I will follow up on it. I will not stop until I find her.”
If you have any information on Misti Whitfield’s whereabouts or about her disappearance, call Tampa Police Department Det. Scott Bullard, (813) 231-6130. Anonymous tips can be made through Crime Stoppers, 1-800-873-TIPS.
Contact Michael Eng at meng@plantcityobserver.com.
For more photos from the candlelight vigil, see our photo gallery.