GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — A submerged car found inside a Georgia pond may be the key to solving a 44-year-old missing person case.
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On Friday, Florida’s Sunshine State Sonar Team found a Lincoln Continental in a pond between the Royal Inn Hotel and Interstate 95 on New Jesup Highway.
The Glynn County police said the car matches the same one Charles and Catherine Romer were believed to be driving when they vanished in April 1980.
According to The New York Times, on April 8, 1980, the couple arrived at the Holiday Inn in Brunswick, registered as guests, unpacked in their room and disappeared. A motel attendant reported three days later that the room had not been occupied, and the police began a search. The car was never found, although one police report said it had been seen heading south an hour after the couple registered. They were last heard from in a telephone call to one of their sons on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1980, as they prepared to leave a Miami Beach hotel to drive their 1979 Lincoln home. The family reported later that Catherine Romer had jewelry worth between $60,000 and $80,000 on her.
One of the sons, Charles R. Romer Jr. of Mahwah, N.J., told The New York Times, ‘’We just don’t have any leads right now at all’' into the disappearances of his father, who was 74 years old in 1980, and his second wife, Catherine, 76.
‘’I’ll never give up on it,’’ Charles R. Romer Jr. told The New York Times. ‘’I’ll always try to find out what happened.’’
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Glynn County investigators and the Camden County dive team found one human bone in the car and the pond continues to be drained to see if more remains can be found.
The department has not confirmed the identity of the remains found and is utilizing special equipment for a thorough investigation and uncovering more evidence.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Glynn County police are investigating the case. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Glynn County Police Department at 912-554-3645 or anonymously via Silent Witness at 912-264-1333.
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