Volunteer divers from the United Search Corps have discovered 32 vehicles submerged in a single Miami lake.
NewsNation reports the divers were searching for clues on a cold case when they stumbled upon the cars.
32 vehicles were found in the lake located in Doral, Florida near Miami International airport, while another 12 vehicles were also found within the same area by the dive team.
By using sonar technology, the founder of Sunshine State Sonar, Mike Sullivan, says divers were able to locate vehicles which dated as far back as 1940.
“This many in one lake is pretty alarming,” United Search Corps’ Doug Bishop told NewsNation.
Miami-Dade Police Department began recovering the vehicles earlier this week.
The police department’s public information officer, Alvaro Zabaleta, told NewsNation that the recovery effort can take some time due to the lake’s poor visibility and currents that move within the lake.
“A lot of these vehicles are very old,” said Mr Zabaleta.
He said these vehicles may have been dumped here for a variety of reasons
“Vehicles that have perhaps been abandoned and they wanted to get rid of them, they got rid of them here, or those that took them for a joy ride, they were stolen, and then were dumped inside the lake.”
“The first vehicle [found by divers] was an Acura Legend that was removed. It was stolen around 2002,” said Doral Police Department Chief Edwin Lopez in remarks reported by NBC 6 South Florida.
“The second vehicle was a 1980s vehicle that was stolen in the late 90s.”
Footage published by the Miami-Dade Police Department shows a 1985-88 Cadillac Sedan de Ville being removed from the lake.
Mr Zabaleta also told NewsNation that he expects most of the cars to be linked to crimes like theft and fraud rather than more serious crimes, however the Homicide unit will still be on standby.
The divers initially began searching the lake for clues to the homicide of Robert Gilchrist which occurred 20 years ago.
Mr Gilchrist reportedly went missing after he picked up a hitchhiker on his way to pick up his family from the airport.
Mr Fleming told NewsNation that Gilchrist never arrived at the airport and his body was found last month with a gun shot wound to the head but his vehicle was never recovered.
