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The Disappearance of Laurel Lea Rogers

Jennifer
11 min readJan 24, 2024

Laurel Lea Rogers was diagnosed with Lupus at the age of 16. While most girls are getting ready for prom, high school activities, and pretty soon, college, Laurel was learning to manage a new disease.

Lupus left her with chronic issues and soon she would also be diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.

Laurel preserved, but not without struggles. In addition to her prescribed medication, Laurel also turned to purchasing pain pills on the streets to help manage her chronic pain. Laurel also worked with Dr. Ataur Rahman for a while, a notorious Florida doctor whose office would be raided and shut down for operating what is known as a ‘pill mill’.

In 2010, at 28 years old, Laurel was living in Port Orange, Florida. Laurel was managing. She was taking ten prescription medications daily- medications that she needed to take, otherwise she was at risk of seizures and organ failure.

On February 1, 2010, Laurel went out with a friend for a while to a local Italian restaurant.

The friend brought her home, and when Laurel came inside the house, she saw her brother. They said hi, and he said Laurel told him she was leaving again with a friend shortly and he went outside in the backyard.

When he came back in, Laurel wasn’t there, but he knew she was planning on leaving. He wasn’t worried.

It wasn’t until a full 24 hours passed that Laurel’s family knew something was very wrong. She had left all of her medications at home, and her phone was going straight to voicemail. Laurel was soon reported missing.

Where is Laurel Lea Rogers?

Laurel Lea Rogers was born on June 4, 1981. Laurel’s mother, Lauretta also had a couple of children at home and Laurel loved growing up with brothers and sisters.

As in a lot of our cases, we don’t know a whole lot about who Laurel was before her disappearance at age 28.

What I can tell you, is that at age 16, Laurel’s life changed dramatically. After battling several health issues, Laurel was diagnosed with Lupus, and soon after that…

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Jennifer
Jennifer

Written by Jennifer

Jen is the host of the missing persons podcast: "Where are they?”

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