Help tracing the owner of a lost/stolen iPhone5

Question

I apoligise in advance for the long post, but please bare with me.
I found a handbag/pocketbook tucked under a seat in a car park of a large public park in Orlando (Florida) that contained nothing much but a wallet, a few store receipts and an iPhone5. The wallet was completely empty, so I guessed the contents had been stolen, although I couldn't understand why a theif would leave such an expensive phone behind.
The park is surrounded by several hotels and large resorts, the owner could have come from any one of them or could have just been visitng the park for a few hours, so it wasn't feasible to hand it in to a lost property.
I tried to see if I could call the last number, or perhaps a 'Mom' or 'Dad' but it was password protected so I couldn't get into it.
There was a receipt in the bag from a local store that also contained the name of the woman who made a purchase in the store that same day, so I called the store and asked them if they could trace her from credit card details. They were very helpful and traced the transaction, but unfortunately the woman had paid cash and declined to give her email address to the store, so there were no contact details available. I left my phone number with the store in case the owner retraced her steps that day.
There was another receipt from a restaurant in Ontario from the previous week, so I figured she was probably on vacation in Orlando from Canada.
I decided to keep hold of the phone for the day, rather than taking it to police (the nearest station being 20 miles away), thinking the owner would call and I could arrange to meet them. Sure enough, later that day, the phone rang, but only for a few seconds and not enough time to answer. It rang again later that night, but again only for a few seconds.
I called Apple the next morning with the serial number and asked them if they could trace the owner and let them know I had their phone, but they said no, they couldn't help at all.
The carrier in the corner of the screen was showing as AT&T (although I guess it could have been roaming using that network) so I called them and asked if they could help. They were so unhelpful and uninterested it was unbelievable.
I then decided to search Facebook using the name of the woman on the store receipt and Ontario. A matching name and location came up, so I sent a message asking if she was on vacation in Orlando as I had found a phone, but I have never received a reply.
The next day the carrier (AT&T) disappeared from the screen, so I figured the contract had been cancelled by the owner.
A friend in the police said all that would happen is it would sit in lost property for a while and then get sold on at auction, so I am reluctant to just hand it in to the police.
Apple were not helpful, AT&T were not helpful, no reply from Facebook.
Any suggestions as to what else I can do to trace the owner? I think my only option is to hand it to the police, but I know then it will be lost forever to the owner as it will just sit in lost property.
I was tempted to try and find someone who could get the password removed so I could try and call a few people in contacts, but I don't want to get into any trouble trying to find some hooky person to unblock a password protected phone!
I'm out of ideas, so any suggestions would be hugely appreciated. The battery is now dead by the way and, as I am not an iPhone user (shock, horror I know!!) I have no way of charging it up.
Shall I just take it to the police knowing the phone will probably be lost forever to the owner? I haven't been able to get into the phone so I don't know if it's full of precious photo's or any other imporant info.

Answer 1

No, I really don't want to use it myself. I have never used an Apple product in my life. I am Windows through and through and have no use at all for an iPhone. I run my business synced with my Windows laptop, Windows tablet and Windows phone.
I can't connect it to a computer as I don't have any cables that fit iPhone connections.
I just really wanted the police to be the absolute last resort as I know it will never get back to the original owner once I do that. I admit I'm about to give up though, I would just like to know I have done everything  I could before it goes to the police station.