Catherine Anne Stirm

• Missing Since 01/22/2024
• Missing From Bradenton, Florida
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 67 years old
• Height and Weight 5'1, 210 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Graying brown hair. Catherine's ears are pierced.

Details of Disappearance

Catherine was last seen in Bradenton, Florida on January 22, 2024. She spoke to coworkers on the morning that day. She missed work on January 23, and her employer, a local health care company, reached out to her brother, Scott Stirm. A photo of him is posted with this case summary.

Scott at first claimed Catherine was sick and in the hospital, then later said she had gone to Michigan. On January 29, a woman claiming to be Catherine called a coworker at the health care company, but the coworker immediately realized this wasn't Catherine and the call ended. That same day, and the following day, the police conducted a welfare check at at Catherine’s home in the Fountain Lakes Condominium complex. She wasn't home and her car wasn't in the parking lot. On January 30 it was found in the parking lot of the Sawgrass Cove Apartment Complex, where Scott lived.

On January 31, Catherine's employer reported her missing. The next day, police executed a search warrant on Scott's apartment. On the evening of February 1, authorities found his vehicle parked in the 6300 block of Windmere Road in Brooksville, Florida at a Days Inn, where he had rented a room. When they arrived, Scott shot himself to death.

Evidence recovered from his hotel room included several handguns, ammunition, financial papers and Catherine's driver's license. Subsequent investigation showed that Catherine was seen on a door camera on January 22, entering her brother's apartment. She was never seen leaving. After January 22, the camera recorded Scott taking large, heavy bags out of his apartment, on January 31 he was seen removing personal belongings.

When police searched his apartment on February 1, the day of his death, they found a hand saw, a power saw and cleaning products. A search of a local landfill turned up a knife, a hatchet and bloodstained clothing inside a bag that also held Scott's mail. Multiple items were tested for DNA, but the results were inconclusive.

Investigators believe Catherine was murdered by her brother and that her body was dismembered and disposed of in an unknown location. She was declared legally dead by the court in January 2025, but her remains have never been found.