Body of missing Florida runner Arielle Valdes found after nearly weeklong search

By
Arielle Valdes
Florida runner Arielle Reis Coutinho Valdes, missing since Aug 28 National Center for Missing and Endangered

The body of missing 21-year-old Arielle Valdes has been found.

On Monday, the Lee County Sheriff's Office confirmed female remains found along the Caloosahatchee River in North Fort Myers, Florida, are presumed to be Arielle's.

There is no preliminary evidence to indicate foul play, authorities said.

"Ari you were to good for this world," Arielle's sister, Isabella Hergert, wrote in a heartbreaking Facebook post shortly before the sheriff's announcement. "I love you and I will see you again in every life time. You are a piece of my soul that I will always look for."

"Thank you so much for the love we have received from the community. Please give us privacy while we grieve our angel," wrote Hergert.

Arielle was last seen leaving her Fort Myers, Florida, residence Wednesday evening, according to the LCSO.

Family members said Arielle was an avid runner and was training for a marathon, but it's unclear if that was the reason she left her home – without her phone or Apple Watch – at the time of her disappearance.

"She has been having panic attacks as of very recently and has not been speaking much the last week," Hergert wrote on social media over the weekend. "We were going to have her go to therapy, which she agreed to."

"We are worried she has been hiding and is feeling like we will be mad at her," Hergert surmised.

However, a separate post on a Facebook page dedicated to finding Arielle, clarified her mental state at the time she went missing remains unknown.

"... she has no history of any mental conditions that would cause this behavior. We do not know her reasoning for leaving the house," the update read, in part.

"We can't eat, sleep for the past 48 hours," Arielle's mother, Priscilla Coutinho, told WBBH-TV Sunday. "My daughter is my heart. I have two other kids. They also are my heart. But guess what? No one's going to take her place. I want her to bring her back home, please. I just want to bring her back home."

Arielle was last spotted on surveillance footage, wearing a beige hoodie, gym shorts, and black and white converse, running southbound on US-41 in North Fort Myers, moments before she vanished.

Tags
Missing, Florida

© 2025 Lawyer Herald All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Join the Discussion
More News
No Jail for Medical Student Found Guilty of Raping Drunk

No Jail for Medical Student Found Guilty of Raping Drunk Woman Who 'Couldn't Possibly Consent': He Is 'Young' and 'Talented'

Puerto Rican Server Told to 'Go Back to Mexico' By

Puerto Rican Server Told to 'Go Back to Mexico' by Customers in Racist Note: 'No Tips for Illegals'

Georgia Man Chris Louis Leaves Children at McDonald's

Georgia Dad Left Young Children at McDonald's While He Went to a Job Interview. Cops Were Waiting When He Returned

Kolstad Stoeckel

Minnesota Man Begged Deputies to 'Put One in My Head' After Shooting Sleeping Roommate: Police