A car found submerged in a North Carolina creek may solve a 41-year-old mystery of three missing men.
The breakthrough came from Jason Souhrada, who built a sonar device to scan the creek.
“I got inspired by YouTubers that searched multiple times in that town and could not find them,” Souhrada said. “I questioned why they did not search this body of water and realized they couldn’t access it with regular boats.”
The car was identified as the missing Chevrolet Camaro, containing human remains.
“I decided to build my sonar boat, as I don’t have a real boat, nor have a place to keep one,” he said. “A real boat would’ve been far more expensive. Plus, I only wanted to scan retention ponds and other areas real boats aren’t allowed or can’t access. Tons of missing people are found in retention ponds.”
“Later, inspecting video recorded on the scanner, I noticed what looked like an upside down car, but wasn’t sure, being this was my first time finding anything,” he said. “So, after confirming with four dive teams across the nation, I went back for another scan for more images.”
Authorities are awaiting identification results and investigating potential foul play.
“We were very hopeful that was the vehicle he was looking at,” Sidney Dive Team Captain John Scott Rose Jr. said. “The dives went as usual. Normal bad visibility, and the depth is normal for the area. A lot of mud, trees, fishing lines. Lots of fishing lines all over everything from years of people fishing in there. Tree stumps, logs, things like that floated in and out of that place.”
“I found the vehicle after about 45 minutes of searching,” he said. “The vehicle was in such bad shape that when I put my hands on it, it was hard for me to determine that it was even an automotive. Maybe it was a lawnmower or something. It seemed real small to me, but then I realized that it was small mainly because there was nothing left of it but the chassis and the axles and the motor.”
“They were very appreciative of us,” Washington Chief of Police Phil Rollinson said. “They expressed how thankful they were that so many people were involved in the effort to recover the vehicle and what remains we could recover. We just want to give them some closure.”
The families expressed gratitude for closure.
“Without Jason Souhrada’s sacrifice, taking time away from his family to help ours, we wouldn’t have this potential chance for closure,” Lea Rose said. “This has reopened wounds, initiating the grieving process anew for three families. Despite the pain, there’s a slight relief in finally having some answers.”
“I feel like I am in a dream of sorts,” daughter ReAnne Mayo said. “I never thought to prepare myself had we found them. For years, I may have been watching the sunset near the creek with my father nearby and never knew it.”
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