STAFF REPORT

Timeline of Sept. 17

2 a.m. Sunday. Dale Fullwood returns to his Calabash Lane home from work and checks in on his five children, including Coralrose, 6. He sees her sleeping.

7 a.m. Fullwood checks again on Coralrose and discovers her missing, along with a flower print black comforter. The family calls the North Port Police Department to report her missing.

8 a.m. Fort Myers resident Doreen VanderWoude gets a call from her daughter, Ellen-Beth Fullwood, who says Coralrose is missing. Ellen-Beth asks her mother to come help look for her. Charlotte County’s K-9 unit and helicopter join the search. Utility employees search canals using airboats. Firefighters and police search nearby streets and the rest of the city.

10 a.m. Grobe Street resident Judy Perez hears Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office’s helicopter overhead and calls North Port police to inquire. A dispatcher tells her there is a child missing. Perez jumps on her bicycle and yells at neighbors to join the search. An estimated 100 neighbors join the search on their own.

11 a.m. City sends out a codeRED alert to every home in the 103-square-mile city, alerting residents by phone that there is a missing child. Residents are asked to call the department with information.

Noon. A resident walking a dog finds Coralrose in a wooded area behind a home under construction two blocks from Coralrose’s house. The search ends and the area is marked off the area with police tape.


Timeline of Sept. 18

11 a.m. Monday. At press conference, Police Chief Terry Lewis announces that “no arrest is imminent” in the case, and says it is being investigated as a murder.

2:30 p.m. Officials from the state Department of Children and Families arrive in Fort Myers, where the Fullwoods are staying, and say they want to question the children. Family members say they want to see a court order.

5:30 p.m. Having obtained a court order, DCF workers take the children.

11 p.m. Detectives are back at the Fullwood home on Calabash Lane house, and remove several black garbage bags full of possible evidence.


Timeline of Sept. 19

9:30 a.m. A custody hearing regarding Coralrose's four siblings is postponed.

11 a.m. At a press conference, Chief Terry Lewis announces that leads developed on Monday prompted police to search the house again on Monday night.

1:30 p.m. Custody hearing begins. State officials say the living conditions at the Calabash home were hazardous to the children. After five hours of testimony, the judge gives Coralrose's grandparents custody of the four children, ages 4 to 12. The Fullwoods are allowed supervised visitation and ordered not to talk to the children about the disappearance or death of Coralrose.