Missing woman's husband offers reward to find her

OSSIPEE — A $2,000 reward from the friends and family of a Florida woman who went missing in Ossipee last month will be given to anyone who can help find her. Meanwhile, police are seeking fresh leads. Carol Gemmiti, 66, was last seen Sept. 27 at 11 a.m. walking in the area of 48 Bay Point Road on Ossipee Lake. She was wearing gray sweatpants and a sweater. She is the aunt of former Conway Daily Sun staff photographer Jamie Gemmiti.

Carol and her husband, Don Gemmiti, are from Florida and were in Ossipee for a vacation.

She and Don were staying at his family’s cottage on Bay Point Road, a place Carol had been to once before. Bay Point Road is on a peninsula between Broad Bay and Leavitt Bay on Ossipee Lake.

State police activated the Missing Vulnerable Adult/Silver Alert System, and the public is urged to contact them if Carol is seen. A search was conducted that involved a helicopter, boats, divers and K9s. New Hampshire Fish and Game also searched Ossipee Lake with their sonar-equipped boat.

Some reports say Carol suffers from memory loss.

In phone interviews with the Sun last Friday and again on Monday, Don said the Gemmiti Family Fund has $2,000 in it. Tips on Carol’s whereabouts should be sent to the police, not the family, he said.

“The family is very concerned about her whereabouts, and has been from the onset, and is very appreciative of all the work done by the Ossipee Police and New Hampshire Fish and Game,” said Don. “But we’ve reached a point where a reward will be offered for her whereabouts and her successful return.” That means either finding her alive or her remains.

Don said if anyone wants to contribute to the fund they may send a check to Gemmiti Family Fund, in care of Don Gemmiti, 321 Desoto St., Nokomis, FL 34275.

Fish and Game’s Sgt. Alex Lopashanski said Fish and Game will return with their equipment to the lake on Thursday to check areas further south. “As far as search areas go, Ossipee Lake is a pretty sandy or muddy, flat bottom,” he said. “The likely areas were checked.”

Lopashanski said the $110,000 sonar system can find objects along the bottom of a water body. It looks like a torpedo and is towed behind a boat.

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Asked what people can do to help, Lopashanski said seasonal property owners nearby can look and see if anyone has been in their homes.

“It wouldn’t be the first time that somebody got inside of an unsecured structure, locked the door behind them,” said Lopashanski. “Obviously we’re not kicking down doors.”

Fish & Game will come back to the areas with dogs again and also drones after the leaves fall.

On Monday, Police Chief Donald Babbin said he believes Ossipee Lake was going to be drained by 14 feet on Monday and that might help.

He said he’s sent Carol’s information to a database called NamUs run by the Department of Justice.And he has also asked the FBI for assistance.

Babbin said he has no problem with a reward being offered. “I need something new, I need something fresh,” said Babbin. “We have nothing.”

Babbin said Don Gemmiti has been cooperative and provided the police with whatever is needed.

Carol Gemmiti’s bank records show no clues. Babbin said he spoke with the woman who dropped the Gemmitis off at the airport on Sept. 21 and she said Carol seemed cheerful.

“She’s been talking about this trip with her husband in the family for over a year, and I know that from therapists,” said Gemmiti, adding he also contacted her family in Pennsylvania. “I have reached out to everybody I possibly could.”