Lakeland police scrutinizing 17-year-old disappearance

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

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Janice Norat was 32 when she disappeared.

Lakeland police are hoping new leads and information will help them solve a 17-year-old disappearance case.

Janice Norat, 32, disappeared in 1990, three months after her husband died in a car accident.

"Don't know if she was kidnapped, don't know if she got abducted, don't know if she got murdered," said one of her daughters, Carla Norat. "It's devastating to a child."

Norat was supposed to pick up one of her daughters from summer day camp, but she never showed up. Two days later, her locked car was found in a parking lot at Merchant's Walk, the same shopping center where she used to work as a landscaper.

New evidence suggests Norat didn't run away from her Lakeland home.

More information

"It is leading us to believe she was in fact murdered, abducted, fell on the hands of foul play," said Sgt. Gary Gross of the Lakeland Police Department.

Police said Norat had several thousands dollars on her from her late husband's life insurance policy, but she had several thousand more in the bank and never come back to claim it.

They're looking into new leads from anonymous callers suggesting Norat was connected to the occult.

"I would see a lot of pentagrams and stuff around the house," said Carla Norat. "It's signs where she was into, involved in satanic rituals and things like that."

The family said they hope the new clues and help from the public can point them to closure.

This police rendering shows what Norat may look like today.

"Every time this case gets a break in it and he comes and interviews me, it just opens sore wounds," Carla Norat said.

Norat was recently added to the National Center for Missing Adults database and this summer her case will be featured on a new set of cold case playing cards. There is also a $5,000 reward being offered in the case.