30-year-old Heather Anne Lacey lost contact with her family in late 2013. The oldest of three sisters, Lacey grew up in Pembroke Pines, Florida. She attended a Catholic high school in Hollywood, and briefly attended Florida International University in Miami, according to the Sentinel. The divorced mother of two was naturally bright and did well in school, according to the Sun Sentinel‘s reporting, but she struggled in the years preceding her disappearance.

Lacey’s mother, Patti Palumbo, told the Sentinel:

She was a very smart girl and had a lot going for her and unfortunately, her downfall was getting into drugs, doing drugs and being addicted. It put her in a cycle that led us here.

After a difficult C-section, Lacey became addicted to painkillers, which led to cocaine and other drug use. When she was sober, she was able to successfully hold down straight jobs. But when she was using, she began dabbling in sex work. Beginning in 2006, when she was 23, Lacey ran into legal trouble for a series of non-violent offenses, mostly related to drugs and prostitution. She served a year and one day in state prison for forgery and fraudulent use of an ID. In late 2013, she was living in the Hollywood and Hallandale Beach area off Federal Highway, according to her family.

“That wasn’t like her.”

But, throughout the difficult periods in her life, Lacey remained in contact with her parents, two sisters, and children—who were living with relatives. Palumbo said:

We noticed [she was missing] right away. For Thanksgiving and Christmas to come and for her to not be in touch with the kids, or on their birthdays, that wasn’t like her.

Her last social media post was in November 2013. In December, her father filed a missing persons report with the Broward County Sheriff. But the family says police did little to try and find her, due to her “lifestyle” and background.

Lacey’s father and sister, Amber, took it upon themselves to search the streets of Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, according to CBS Miami. According to the Sentinel, maintenance men at Hallandale Beach motels told them they felt that something had happened to Lacey. They searched the neighborhoods where Lacey had bought drugs, where the sellers encouraged them to leave.

While an assortment of characters came out of the woodwork as the Lacey family searched for their missing daughter, they had nothing but rumors to which they could cling. The Lacey family spent six years wondering what happened to Heather.

The case would’ve likely remained cold were it not for the discovery of a dead man some 25-odd miles east.

The First Body

On February 17, 2019, the body of 36-year-old Jonathan Escarzaga was discovered decomposing in his apartment in Hollywood, Florida. The freelance airplane mechanic—which is apparently a thing?—was last seen alive on February 10th. A neighbor’s complaint about a foul odor led to the Hollywood Fire Rescue’s discovery of the body.

Although Escarzaga’s cause of death cannot be determined, according to CBS, the medical examiner said he did not have any recent injuries, and had not injected any drugs prior to his death.

Escarzaga’s life remains a mystery. The apartment manager said he hadn’t put in a maintenance request since 2017, despite the clogged sink and broken toilet discovered along with his body. In 2007, and again 2015, he faced felony charges for driving with a suspended license. I am unable to find any other trace of a criminal record.

After the police investigated the scene, the apartment manager hired a company to remove all the appliances in Escarzaga’s apartment, including an old upright freezer. Eventually, the freezer ended up at a scrap yard owned by Lilian Argueta and Pedro Rodriguez in Margate, Florida.

When, one month after Escarzaga’s death, Argueta finally opened the freezer, she made a gruesome discovery.

The Second Body

The five-foot-tall freezer contained the seemingly-mummified body of Heather Anne Lacey. According to the Sentinel, her body was folded over and crammed the freezer, with arms raised as if she was attempting to push on the door. So terrified of what she thought was a mummy, Argueta screamed.

Four days after the discovery, a detective notified Lacey’s family that her body had been identified by fingerprints. Palumbo told the Sentinel:

It killed the very little hope I had, of course. Now it was real.

The Hollywood Police and the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office are now on the case. They have not commented what their autopsy revealed, nor have they given away in which direction the investigation is leaning. It’s unclear if Escarzaga and Lacey knew each other prior to her death, but Lacey’s family told People they did not know Escarzaga. It’s also unclear when, and how, Lacey died.

What is clear is that Heather Lacey received an unjust ending.

It’s obvious how acutely her absence is felt by those who knew Lacey. Throughout the last six years, friends have almost turned her Facebook page into a memorial, where they share how much they miss her.

I have written about the idea of the “Less Dead” in the past. It seems to me that the investigation into Lacey’s disappearance was hindered by the stigma of addiction, sex work, and criminal justice involvement. She was struggling, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have a family looking for her or friends who loved her.

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This is a story I will continue to follow as it develops.

Until then, what do you think happened to Heather Anne Lacey? If you knew Heather Lacey and want to share your memories of her, please drop me a comment below or shoot me an email.