HOMOSASSA, Fla. — The family of 62-year-old Jamie Lin MacDonald, who was murdered in May 2024, is still searching for closure even though her alleged killers have been arrested.
MacDonald's body was dumped in a canal in Homosassa, where she remained for weeks before being found with several bones missing from her hands.
WATCH: Family continues search for murdered Homosassa woman's remains after arrests made
Hope Yates, MacDonald's daughter, who lives in Kentucky, is refusing to give up the search
"I feel like I cannot stop looking for my mom until we have found all of her. I want to be able to lay her fully to rest," Yates said.
A nonprofit organization called We Are The Essentials has been helping Yates with the search, using a dredger to comb the floor of the canal for 13 missing bones, some as small as a penny.
"When she was recovered, a portion of her bones from her hands were missing. So that's how we got involved," says Shelley Croft, a volunteer with We Are The Essentials.
After an unsuccessful trip last week, their luck changed on Wednesday when the search team found 3 bones, leaving 10 still unaccounted for.
Croft said their motivation is to bring peace to the rest of the MacDonald family.
"Just imagine you have a family member that's missing. And you don't locate their remains. Well, what happens when you do locate them and they're not all there? So that sense of peace is not there until they can locate it all, and that's what they want. They just want their mom to be whole again," Croft said.
For Yates, the search will continue until every missing bone is found.
"If it's the last thing I ever do, I will be in the water looking for Mom until we have found her and laid her to rest," Yates said.
Share Your Story with Blake
Blake Phillips is based in Hillsborough County and shares stories from all over the Tampa Bay area. From public services to tourism, he wants to know about the things that matter to you. Use the form below to reach out to Blake and start a conversation.
.
"I was 100% sure it was them."
A Tampa Bay area landscaping business owner narrowly avoided losing $15,000 to scammers who impersonated his bank and knew his detailed banking history. Tampa Bay 28 I-Team Investigator shares his story and how to spot the same "cash bag scam".
