Fort Myers homicide case: Julia Curvo's family seeks justice, answers

FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Fort Myers Police Department has turned the disappearance and death of Julia "Jules" Curvo into a homicide investigation. Curvo, 28, was found dead near downtown Fort Myers last month after being missing for over a week.

Sandy Stephens, Julia's grandmother, shared with WINK News that they spent time together at a local laundromat and had lunch the day she went missing. Julia was supposed to call her grandmother once she got home, but never did. After numerous attempts to get in contact with her, Stephens knew something was wrong.

"She should still be alive. She should still be out there. She was only 28 years old. She had a whole life ahead of her," said Sandy Stephens, Julia's grandmother.

As Curvo's family mourns her loss, they are also struggling with the thought of someone wanting to harm Julia.

"If someone like that did that to her... they could do it to anyone else. And we don't want that out there in the world. I mean, I just can't even imagine what she went through. It's just, it's so horrible," said Stephens.

The Fort Myers Police Department declared Curvo's death a homicide investigation on Thursday, though they have not released details on what led to this decision. They are urging anyone with information to come forward.

"The information that you have could literally take a killer off the streets, a dangerous person who took, you know, an innocent life of a beautiful woman who had an amazing family behind her, a future ahead of her," said Trish Routte of SWFL Crime Stoppers.

Curvo was last seen on January 21 on Fowler Street, and her body was discovered about a week later on Hough Street, just blocks away. SWFL Crime Stoppers is encouraging anyone who interacted with Julia in her final days to provide any information, no matter how small it may seem.

"If you had any interactions with Julia, I would say, in the week or two prior to her going missing, let's just say, even after the first of January, let us know, because that small piece of information that that one random interaction, or that you thought was a random interaction. That could help us kind of have a fuller picture of what was happening and why this horrific thing happened to her," said Routte.

Anyone with information regarding Julia's death is urged to call 1-800-780-8477.