FBI following leads in case of mom who vanished, leaving toddler behind
Published 11:29 am Monday, August 31, 2020
The FBI is looking for the driver and occupants of a car that was at the Hollywood, Florida, gas station where a young mother who vanished last month was last seen.
The vehicle, a gold Honda 4-door sedan, was seen parked near the fuel pumps of the RaceTrac gas station at 5800 Hollywood Boulevard the night of July 27, FBI officials said Monday. The Honda sedan has visible damage to the left rear bumper, officials said.
Investigators believe the occupant or occupants of the car may have witnessed something related to the disappearance of 21-year-old Leila Cavett.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the location of 21-year-old Georgia mother Leila Cavett, whose young son was found wandering alone in a South Florida apartment complex in July.
Cavett’s father said he believes his daughter may have been on her way to meet a man.
Curtis Cavett said that after searching through her social media, he believes she met a man through an online dating website and could have been in South Florida to meet him. She had previously been living in Georgia and has family in Alabama.
Curtis Cavett said he was going to meet with detectives to discuss investigating his daughter’s social media posts in search of clues.
“We are still relentlessly investigating the circumstances surrounding her disappearance,” FBI Miami Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro said in a news release on Thursday. “Any information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, may be important to finding Leila.”
The agency also released video that contains seven clips of Cavett.
Cavett, of Atlanta, was last seen on the night of July 25, just hours before her 2-year-old son, Kamdyn, was found wandering alone in a shirt and diaper at a Miramar apartment complex. The mother and son had arrived in South Florida the day before she went missing. Investigators have determined that she spent time in several Broward County communities, including Hollywood, Miramar and Fort Lauderdale. Her vehicle was found unattended July 28 in Hollywood.
Investigators on Saturday arrested Shannon Ryan, 38, and charged him with kidnapping with the intent of collecting a ransom, reward or other benefit.
In a criminal complaint filed in Fort Lauderdale on Monday, the FBI said video evidence does not support Ryan’s claims that he saw Leila Cavett and her son get into another person’s vehicle at a Hollywood RaceTrac gas station. Investigators also say he bought odor eliminator, duct tape and extra-large garbage bags around the time of her disappearance.
Court documents said Ryan told investigators he has known Cavett since around January 2019, and that she had come to Florida to sell him her pickup truck.
A lawyer for Ryan was not listed on jail records.
The video clips released by the FBI on Thursday shows Cavett’s Chevrolet pickup truck traveling from one side of the gas station to another on the afternoon of July 25. Another clip shows her getting out of a Lexus sedan at the gas station that afternoon, along with two shots of her inside the convenience story, first at 3:09 p.m. and again at 10:16 p.m.
Cavett’s family is in Alabama. Anyone with information about her disappearance should call 1-800-CALL-FBI or go to fbi.gov/tips.
