Florida mum mysteriously disappears following custody handover of daughter, 4, to ex

Cassie Carli’s daughter, 4, has been found ‘safe’ while the search continues

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A woman is missing after dropping off her four-year-old daughter and sending a mysterious text message about "car troubles".

Cassie Carli, 37, was last seen at Florida’s Navarre Beach, west of Tallahassee, as she handed her daughter Saylor, 4, to the girl’s father on Sunday evening, according to police.

The girl’s father, identified by friends as Marcus Spanevelo, was also missing, local broadcaster ABC27 reported.

Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Saylor had been located "safe" on Wednesday, but that the search for her mother continues.

Ms Carli was last seen in the Navarre Beach car park between 7pm and 8pm local time on Sunday 27 March. Her car was found two days later nearby at Juana’s Boat Ramp on Tuesday morning.

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Sam Porter, a friend of Ms Carli, is coordinating the search, which she said in a Facebook post has been widened to counties where Mr Spanevelo was last seen in Jefferson County, AL and Panama City, Florida.

Ms Porter said in a Facebook video that Ms Carli’s dad received a message from her phone on Sunday night saying she was "having car trouble and that her cell phone was dying".

"This morning her father received a text message from Marcus Spanevelo stating that Cassie had started going crazy and that he was bringing her to my house," Ms Porter alleged in the video.

"Cassie was never brought to my house."

According to a GoFundMe page, Ms Carli was involved in a legal dispute with Mr Spanevelo over access to their daughter in 2021.

The page raised $1,280 of a $10,000 goal for legal fees she wrote were spent on an attorney that helped regain custody of Saylor.

"For over two weeks, I had no contact with my daughter or knowledge of her whereabouts," Ms Carli alleged.