Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers.

And I'm Britt.

And the story I have for you today is about a woman whose disappearance is a mystery that

keeps unfolding while a family desperately searches for answers.

This is the story of Lauren Demolo.

It's Friday night, June 19, 2020. And when Paul Demolo's phone rings, he answers it,

and he's surprised to hear his daughter's boyfriend, Gabriel Penia, on the other line.

Paul isn't close with Gabriel, or Gabby, as he's called, even though he and Paul's

daughter Lauren have been dating for years. I mean, in fact, they haven't even met yet.

Gabby and Lauren live in Cape Coral, which is in Southwest Florida, and Paul actually

lives across the country in California. But this isn't a social call. According to a police

report, Paul gave us Gabby tells Paul that he got home from work that night, like normal

around 10 p.m. But Lauren was nowhere to be found. And here's Paul who spoke with one

of our reporters, Nina.

He said he kissed her goodbye in the morning, went to work, came home, she's not there,

and I was like, all right, well, did you go out?

Confirm that she made me to have a mom's house, did you go up to the store to buy cigarettes?

Paul's not freaking out right away. I mean, Lauren is a teenager. She's almost 30, so

he tells Gabby to have Lauren call him when she gets home, figuring that he's going to

hear from her soon. So he waits and waits, but the call never comes. By Saturday, Paul

still hasn't heard a word from his daughter. So he calls Gabby at work.

I was like, you know, did Lauren come home? She never, I didn't see her. I said, no, I'm

...