The discovery of human remains found inside a car submerged in a pond may hold the key to unlocking a 44-year-old mystery about a millionaire couple's disappearance.
One human bone – which has yet to be identified – was found inside a Lincoln Continental in a pond just off the Interstate 95 highway in Brunswick, Georgia. The car is similar to the description of the 1979 model used by Charles and Catherine Romer when the wealthy retired couple vanished during a drive in April 1980.
The pond is now being drained and searched to see if more bones can be found, and it's hoped this may be a break in the decades-old cold case.
The retired oil executive, 74, and his 76-year-old wife were heading home to Scarsdale, New York, after spending the winter in Florida when they vanished and were reported missing.
They made the trip each year. The couple had just checked in at the Holiday Inn hotel in Georgia and dropped off their things before going for a drive. But the pair were never seen again, spawning a massive police search that involved the FBI.
Much was made of the couple's wealth, with Catherine Romer said to be wearing jewelry worth up to $80,000 on the day she disappeared, according to Associated Press reports at the time.
Charles Romer's son, Charles Romer Jr., spoke to The New York Times five years after his father disappeared, saying: "We just don't have any leads right now at all. I'll never give up on it."
He continued to check in with the police as the years went by. But the couple were officially declared dead in 1985, leaving behind more than $1 million in inheritance (which would be equivalent to almost $4 million today).
The car was found on Friday by a unit from Sunshine State Sonar, a group based in Florida that specializes in underwater searches. It is unclear why the organization, which was working in collaboration with the police, was searching that particular pond and whether it was specifically searching for the Romers' car.
Newsweek reached out to Sunshine State Sonar via email for comment.
A statement by the local police force, posted on Facebook on Saturday, said: "Glynn County Police [GCPD] along with Georgia Bureau of Investigation are currently investigating the discovery of human remains in a submerged vehicle that was found Friday in a pond between the Royal Inn Hotel and Interstate 95 on New Jesup Highway.
"The vehicle, a Lincoln Continental, was found by the Sunshine State Sonar Team from Florida. The vehicle is similar to the description of a vehicle that Charles and Catherine Romer were believed to be driving when reported missing in April, 1980. Investigators – with the assistance of the Camden County Dive Team - found one human bone in the vehicle and the pond is being drained to see if there are additional remains.
"At this time there is no conclusion about the identity of the remains that were found. The pond is being drained and special equipment is being utilized to allow for a thorough investigation by GCPD and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation."
This investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information is urged to call the Glynn County Police Department at (912) 554-3645 or anonymously via Silent Witness at (912) 264-1333.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), some 600,000 individuals go missing in the U.S. every year, and an estimated 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered. Unsolved murders and missing person cases are never closed but become "cold cases" as leads gradually dry up.
Investigators across Nevada and Arizona are currently hoping to solve several cold cases of missing people after several bodies were found when water levels dropped in Lake Mead on the border between the two states.
Several cold missing persons cases have been solved when their bodies or remains are later found in submerged cars. A nearly 50-year-old mystery was solved in South Florida in August when the remains of mom Doris Wurst and her toddler daughter Caren Wurst were found inside a car submerged in a canal.
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