UPDATE: 3:35 p.m. - The Medical Examiner for District 10 (covering Polk, Highlands, and Hardee Counties) has completed their examination of the body for Yanela Lorente.

Her cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head; therefore, her death has been ruled a suicide.

"This was not the outcome we were hoping for," said Polk Sheriff Grady Judd. "We are deeply saddened for Yanela's family. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time."

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The Polk County Sheriff's Office has found a body in the area where a search for a missing woman has been ongoing.

Deputies say the body appears to be that of 28-year-old Yanela Lorente, who has been missing since last week.

The body has been recovered in unincorporated Polk County, off of Old Polk City Road, near County Road 557. A death investigation has been started.

The area is not far from where authorities have been searching for Lorente, from Haines City. Authorities were alerted to the vehicle of the missing woman, in that area on Monday.

  • Polk deputies have reported finding a body in unincorporated part of the county.
  • Yanela Lorente, 28, last seen leaving her home on Cherokee Avenue
  • Lorente's mother, Leidi Rodriguez, said she last talked to her daughter Sunday afternoon

Forensic crews arrived at the scene mid-morning on Friday.

Authorities did take Lorente's family members away from the search area Friday morning. 

Lorente was last seen leaving her home on Cherokee Avenue in Haines City on May 29.

Investigators immediately called her disappearance suspicious because she missed work and had not called her mother, which is unusual.

Haines City police have been conducting a large scale investigation, with more than a dozen people working day and night to find her. The Polk County Sheriff's Office is assisting.

Lorente's mother, Leidi Rodriguez, said she last talked to her daughter Sunday afternoon and learned that Yanela had gotten into an argument with her live-in boyfriend.

"On Sunday when she called, she said that they had argued, but that it was going to be ok and she was going to go back home," said Rodriguez. "And after that she just turned off her phone and we haven't heard from her." 

The family described Yanela as very reserved, and said she didn't have friends in the area. They said she's been with her live-in boyfriend for five years and that they moved to Haines City a little more than a year ago.

The couple also lived with a roommate, whom Haines City Police said Yanela's boyfriend met online. The two men became business partners, and police said they're the last two people who saw her.

Police executed a search warrant on the home Wednesday night. One of the things they seized was Yanela's computer.

Yanela's boyfriend reported her missing Monday. Detectives said the same day, he found her car at the Hillochee Park area off of Old Polk City Road.