Woman finds folded American flag in road; search is on for its owner

It’s been almost a week since she found the flag and posted about it on social media, but so far, no luck.

The woman who found a folded flag in the road says she comes from a military family and knows how important the flag is. So she’s determined to find the rightful owner.

The flag was folded in a triangle—battered and scratched—and found lying on a busy road in Miami.

“How it ended up in the road, we don’t know, but there has to be someone missing it,” said Cape Coral resident Laura Mariotti.

“We noticed the flag in the middle of the road being repeatedly run over so we were compelled to turn around and stop and take it,” she added.

Now, it’s in Mariotti’s hands and she’s trying to find who lost it.

“My father is a Vietnam vet, and my grandfathers both served in World War II. So for that reason it’s particularly important to me,” Mariotti said.

Tom Clifford with the American Legion in downtown Fort Myers says it’s a longstanding tradition that the next of kin receives a folded flag.

“There’s a sequence when they fold the flag into a triangle with the blue and the white stars and they place it on the casket,” Clifford said.

But he adds that he’s never dealt with a situation like this one. There’s not even a name plate on the flag, which makes the search for its owner more challenging.

“We’ve been making a lot of effort getting the word out there. Being that it’s in Miami, we’re going to need someone who has connections over there to hopefully get it circulated,” Clifford said.

The flag was found at NW 7th Ave. at 73rd St.

Mariotti hopes more people with connections to Miami can help spread the word.