During a search for clues in a cold case, a team of divers in Miami-Dade County uncovered a haunting underwater graveyard of more than 30 vehicles at the bottom of a local lake. Initially aimed at solving a disappearance, this discovery by the United Search Corps volunteer diving team has opened up a new chapter in the area’s unsolved mysteries.
The eerie find was made near Miami International Airport, in a spot identified by divers as potentially linked to foul play due to its accessibility and proximity to the airport. Among the submerged fleet were antiques and vehicles reported as stolen, including a Ford Crown Victoria, an Econoline E-350, and a Cadillac DeVille, shedding light on a series of crimes that might have occurred over the years.
According to Doug Bishop, founder of the United Search Corps, and diver Ken Fleming, the mission was initially focused on finding a crucial clue to an unsolved case of a person who vanished after driving from Pinellas County to pick up relatives at the airport. Instead, they stumbled upon a much larger and unsettling scene – a total of 32 sunken vehicles, adding to a statewide tally of 60 vehicles found underwater and linked to criminal activities.
The Miami-Dade Police were promptly notified of the discovery, with their own diving team providing a preliminary estimate of 20 cars submerged. Alvaro Zabaleta, an information officer for the department, acknowledged the difficulty in determining the exact number of vehicles without recovering each one. The hope is that the recovery process will aid in solving numerous stolen vehicle cases, as well as other crimes related to vehicle abandonment or insurance fraud.
The revelation that the area was once a desolate commercial district has led to speculation that it was used as a convenient dumping ground for cars involved in criminal activities. With the recovery of a 2002 Acura already reported stolen, the police anticipate that many of the vehicles will be linked to various crimes.
This intriguing discovery not only aids in piecing together unsolved mysteries but also highlights the depths to which criminal activities can be hidden, quite literally, beneath the surface. The ongoing investigation and recovery effort promise to unravel more about the history of these vehicles and the circumstances leading to their watery graves.
Source: CBS News
