I received the following account on Thursday, March 21, 2019. I was able to contact the witness by telephone:

Hello - last night around 11:15 pm (Wednesday, March 20) I was driving towards Sarasota, Florida northbound on State Road 72. I had just crossed the Myakka River bridge. It was clear with a light haze, with very good visibility.

Ahead of me, approximately 100 feet or so, I witnessed 3 hair-covered creatures run across the highway. They were between 5-6 foot in height each, but there could have been a smaller one on the back of one of the larger creatures. All were running on 2 legs, just like humans but kind of crouched. The creature at the back of the group looked in my direction and its eyes shined back like that of a cat. The shine was reddish in color. The hair was long all over their bodies and dark orange in color.

I have lived in the Sarasota area all my life and have heard about Skunk Apes and Bigfoot. I suppose that these creatures were those, but they reminded me of Orangutan at first glance. They crossed the road in about 5 seconds, but I got an excellent view. Thanks. KL

I called KL and received a bit more information on her sighting:

The witness states that her father believes he had seen a Skunk Ape in the same general area in the mid-1990s while fishing in the Myakka River. She said that she never really gave the phenomena much credence, but she now believes that they do exist. She said that it looked like the lead creature was carrying something on its right shoulder and back, but could not make out what it was exactly. The witness remarked how thick and long the hair was on the creatures, especially around the upper body and legs. She included a Google Map screenshot of the roadway where she had the encounter, about 1000 feet north of the bridge. They crossed the road from right to left. Lon