Police are investigating multiple retrieved vehicles after they were discovered submerged in a lake in Doral, Florida, by underwater search teams and divers.
Divers at a private agency investigating missing persons cold cases found about 30 vehicles while exploring the lake.
They notified the local police, and dive teams from various agencies began efforts to recover and investigate the cars on Tuesday morning, according to the Doral Police Department.
“The respective dive teams from multiple agencies have begun the recovery/extraction of the vehicles and a thorough investigation has taken place,” Doral Police Department’s Cmdr. Alicia Neal told USA Today.
“As of this time, four of these vehicles have been recovered and linked to stolen vehicles reported out of different jurisdictions within South Florida, dating back as far as 1996.”
Police have identified a Nissan Ultima, an Acura Legend, a Cadillac Sedan DeVille, a Ford Econoline van, and a Ford Crown Vic.
Volunteer diver Ken Fleming, founder of Recon Dive Recovery, told WSVN Channel 7 News that the cars were most likely abandoned in the lake during various criminal acts. The lake is in an area just west of Miami International Airport.
“When we discover a spot like this with multiple vehicles, it pretty much indicates a crime where they’re disposing the vehicles and hiding them from law enforcement,” Mr. Fleming said.
He told the New York Times that some cars could be linked to the 1970s and 1980s conflict between the U.S. government and Colombian drug cartels.
“There was a lot of crime during the cocaine wars in Miami,” Mr. Fleming said. He said that many of the submerged cars were from that era and could have been thrown in the lake by the cartels.
Alvaro Zabaleta, spokesman for the Miami-Dade police department, said officers had anticipated the cars being involved in crimes.
“These are most likely the type of vehicles we’re going to find in this lake,” Officer Zabaleta stated at the scene, via WFLA.
“Vehicles that perhaps have been abandoned and they wanted to get rid of them, and they got rid of them here, or those that took them for a joy ride, they were stolen and then they were dumped inside the lake.”
The search team also included United Search Corps and Sunshine State Sonar. Even after local officials have moved on to other cases, all three groups assist families in finding their missing loved ones. The groups said they started scouring the lake last week and found the cars on Friday and Saturday.
Many of the cars were probably stolen vehicles linked to a carjacking, homicide, or other criminal activity, according to Doug Bishop, the founder of United Search Corps.
“No vehicle is underwater for a good reason,” Mr. Bishop said. He estimated that they had been submerged in the lake for over 30 years.
According to Mr. Bishop, the vehicles were not linked to any current investigations, but investigators are looking at whether or not they’re connected with other crimes.
“We were not able to come across any human remains nor were we able to connect any of those to the cases that we were targeting,” he said, noting that more data is necessary.
When WSVN asked the purpose of his volunteer work, Mr. Bishop said, “It’s about providing answers for families where they don’t have them. Departments, respectfully, have to justify their use of resources, and when a case goes cold, we have the ability to step in.”
Mr. Bishop told CNN the lake was one of many on his group’s list to search.
