Florida girl’s father charged in connection to her death after reporting the 12-year-old missing in 2023

Lori Paige, a Florida girl who was reported missing in June 2023, has been found deceased.

Her father has now been charged in connection to her death.

Authorities announce charges

Police said Paige, who was 12 at the time of her disappearance, remains were found at the Merrily Plantation on April 5.

On Friday, April 11, the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) announced in a press release that Paige’s 36-year-old father, Andrew Wiley, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection to her death.

Details of Lori Paige’s missing case

The press release said the announcement came after a “comprehensive and exhaustive 22-month investigation” into the disappearance of Lori.

Before the discovery of Paige’s remains, the middle schooler was last seen in the Continental Court neighborhood in Tallahassee in June 2023.

According to police, Wiley reported Paige missing on June 3, 2023. At the time, Wiley claimed his daughter had left home with her backpack sometime overnight while he was at work, police said.

Detectives then pursued leads and conducted interviews across several states for nearly a year.

Wiley became the focus of the investigation in March 2024, after police identified “more inconsistencies” in his statements and “new information about his relationship with Lori” emerged.

This occurred a month after a forensic analysis of a phone seized from Wiley’s residence on Feb. 2, 2024, led authorities to uncover “questionable internet searches about remote areas with bodies of water in Alabama and Georgia among other things.”

Police said they began to see inconsistencies with Wiley’s story after pursuing “hundreds of leads across state lines” in the summer of 2023 and early 2024.

“I told you two years ago we would never give up. I told you two years ago we would find Lori and we would bring her home,” said TPD Chief Lawrence Revell during the press conference.

“I told you two years ago that we would find who did this and we would arrest them and bring them to justice. And today, I stand before you to tell you we have done just that,” Revell continued.

He added that the case had “deeply impacted our community for nearly two years.”

“Lori deserved a safe home and a full life. While today’s arrest will never bring her back, it does bring us one step closer to justice,” he said.