Fort Myers police investigate 78-year-old’s suspicious disappearance

Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published: Updated:
Porter Taylor Albert (Credit: Wilhelm Llanillo)

Fort Myers Police Department says 78-year-old Porter Taylor Albert has been missing for a week Thursday and now considers his disappearance suspicious. Police are seeking the public’s help to learn his whereabouts.

Albert lives alone and has no local relatives who can confirm when he was last seen.

Porter Taylor Albert’s last known location was at the Big Lots store on N. Cleveland Ave. in North Fort Myers. (FMPD)

However, FMPD released evidence Friday on his last verified location.

The missing 78-year-old was last seen in the Big Lots department store at 13970 N. Cleveland Avenue in North Fort Myers on Jan. 15, 2020 at 6:45 p.m.

A surveillance photo shows him shopping and wearing light-colored shorts with a two-tone, long-sleeved shirt that appears to be orange and black.

Employees we spoke to said they actually remembered seeing Albert. One of them said she helped him and remembered how kind-hearted he was, even in their brief encounter.

Chris Smith wants to believe his good friend, Albert, is safe. But after his recent, mysterious disappearance, he and fellow neighbors fear the worst.

“For the last five months, he was coming by like every evening to see if I need anything, Smith said.

According to FMPD, Albert’s friends and his ex-wife reported they had not heard from him. They told police it is unusual for him to not contact anyone. Albert has no known medical conditions and does not take medications.

Porter Taylor Albert, 78. Credit: via Fort Myers Police Department.

“Anyone that’s friends with him knows that’s not like him,” Smith said.

Smith said he met some of the people whom Albert helped out recently.

“Some girl that he was helping out, she was kind of taking advantage of him. That’s how I looked at it,” Smith said. “They could have realized that this guy was generous and that he had money.”

An FMPD detective told us a crime scene unit will be responding to Albert’s trailer to conduct an investigation.

Police are asking anyone who has contact with him or knows his location to call FMPD at 239-321-7700.

“I’m hoping they would find him and everything OK,” Smith said.

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