A wealthy New York couple has disappeared without a trace. In Georgia 44 years ago, but it seems it only took seven minutes for a pair of volunteer divers to find what their car was and it was submerged in a murky pond near a hotel they were staying at.
Retired oil executive Charles Romer, 73, and his 75-year-old wife, Catherine, disappeared in the spring of 1980 with their 1978 Lincoln. New Yorkthe couple was returning home from Miami Beach, Florida, and checked into a Holiday Inn in Brunswick.
Hotel employees were concerned that they were not sleeping in their beds and reported them missing. It was feared that the couple, who are known to carry expensive jewellery, have been subjected to harassment and looting.
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The hotel is located next to a pool that diver Mike Sullivan told Fox News Digital had been searched several times before, but so far the terrible visibility has prevented searchers from making any progress. It was not happening.
But Cold case It was suddenly hot on Friday when Sullivan and his brother, John Martin, searched the pond in their 6-foot boat and their special sonar equipment pinged a vehicle on the bottom of the pond.
Sullivan says he quickly dived to the bottom of the lake and pulled the nose out of the 1978 Lincoln. They say that human remains and a piece of jewelry were also found in the vehicle.
“We got to the pond about 10 a.m. and we found the car at 10:07 a.m., seven minutes later,” Sullivan says.
The couple, who run Sunshine State Sonar, a Florida-based volunteer search and rescue organization, then called the police, who arrived at the scene.
Drowned Lincoln is like a pond drain. (Sunshine State Sonar)
The Glenn County Police Department and Camden County Dive Team then tried to pull Lincoln from the water and, in doing so, spun the car around and tore off the car’s axle, video provided by Sullivan shows.
They say police then poured water into the pond to reveal the badly mangled car, which they said they eventually removed.
“This vehicle matches the description of the vehicle that Charles and Kathryn Romer were believed to be driving when they were reported missing in April 1980,” the Glenn County Police Department said in a statement. “At this time no conclusion has been reached regarding the identity of the remains found.”
Police have not said what happened to the car or what people were found inside.
The car they discovered had “CRR” embroidered on the back seat, left, and an axle with a wheel, right. (Sunshine State Sonar)
Sullivan believes the remains are the couple’s and believes they inadvertently flipped into the pond while trying to park and drowned in a tragic accident.
Sullivan says the couple’s Lincoln was customized and the car they discovered had their initials “CRR” embroidered on the back seat.
The Romers checked into the Holiday Inn along Interstate 95 and US 341 just before 4 p.m. on April 8, 1980, and took their belongings to their room. Around 5 p.m., a Georgia Highway Patrol officer spotted the couple’s car near some restaurants south of Brunswick, and neither Romer’s nor their car was seen again.
“It’s like he was parking at a diner and as he was parking he accidentally stepped on the gas pedal and he backed into the lake,” Sullivan says. “He has the car in reverse. I was, and he stepped on the gas because the headlights are coasting. He accidentally went back into the lake.”
Sullivan Police say Diamonds worth tens of thousands of dollars were found wrapped in the trunk carpet.
“We also found a diamond ring, necklace, gold purse, gold diamond purse. We also found things with their initials on it and stuff,” he says.
The proximity of the hotel pool and the time it took to develop the case have raised questions as to why it was not discovered earlier.
“The pool has been checked many times over the years as it was literally a hundred yards from their hotel room. The problem is that sonar technology wasn’t available in the 1980s,” says Sullivan.
“Divers would go and swim in the pool and feel the car, but it’s very difficult to find a car that does that with zero visibility. Sometimes you get lucky, it’s very difficult. But they Tried, you know, they probably got in the foot of the car but didn’t get it yet.”
Sullivan says they were initially called to the scene about a tip about a Ford sedan that had reportedly gone into the water. They say that no body was found near this vehicle.
They say Sunshine State Sonar’s work is done for free.
“Nobody hires us. We work with law enforcement on cold cases and we take those cases for free,” Sullivan says. “We specialize in underwater sonar and we are also a diving team.”
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Divers in the water at the scene. (Sunshine State Sonar)
“We have a database of all cases of missing people with vehicles. These are specific types. Missing persons Cases where the victim’s vehicle is never recovered. And so what we do is we go to the area of their last known whereabouts and we search all the water where these people were last known.”
“And the reason we’re at this pool is because it’s the pool in front of the hotel they were staying at.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.