GLYNN COUNTY, Georgia. (WSVN) – After nearly 50 years, a missing persons mystery is solved by a Florida-based dive group.
A family now knows what happened to their loved ones, who went missing while returning home from South Florida.
A Florida-based dive group, The Sunshine State Sonar Team, made a stunning discovery after finding a couple and their car, missing for decades.
The company is known for trying to help crack cold cases.
Crews were brought in to recover both the vehicle and the remains in Glynn County, Georgia.
“And they search the lake and found a car that matched the description in this missing persons case from 44 years ago,” said Glynn County Police Department Public Information Officer Lawton Dodd. “Alerted us, and we called in the Camden County dive team, because they have a Blackwater dive team, we do not.”
The vehicle recovered is believed to be a Lincoln Continental belonging to Charles and Catherine Romer.
The couple vanished while traveling to their New York home from their winter home in Miami.
Investigators said the couple was last seen checking into a Holiday Inn in Brunswick, Georgia on April 8, 1980.
Three days later, hotel employees called police to report the Romers had never checked out.
Divers searched the pond in 1980 but came up with nothing.
Investigators believe it’s possible they simply missed what modern sonar was able to detect.
“It’s a good question, and it’s unclear whether as to whether or not it was searched back then. It may have been, but right now we’re looking back at our old records and it’s unclear whether it was actually searched,” said Dodd.
Detectives now believe Charles Romer may have accidentally driven into the pond.
However, they will keep looking into the case hoping to bring the Romer family even more closure.
A granddaughter of the missing woman thought their loved ones’ disappearance was due to foul play.
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