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Florida man missing since 1997 found at the bottom of a pond thanks to Google Maps
BGR ^ | September 13, 2019 | Mike Wehner

Posted on 09/13/2019 7:21:38 PM PDT by EdnaMode

Google Maps is a powerful tool if you need to know exactly how to get somewhere, but when a car was spotted in a residential pond using Google’s high-flying satellites in late August, it shed light on a mystery far more intense than finding the quickest route across town.

As the Sun Sentinel reports, a neighbor of a Florida resident named Barry Fay first alerted him to what appeared to be a vehicle sitting in a pond directly behind his home. When police investigated the sighting, they found the final resting place of a man who had been missing since 1997.

The unexpected discovery was made thanks to Google Maps, which still shows the 1994 Saturn SL sitting in a pond in an upscale community in Wellington, Florida.

When police dragged the car from below the surface they found the remains of 40-year-old William Earl Moldt who went missing one evening in 1997. It’s still unclear how Moldt’s vehicle ended up in the pond, but it’s worth noting that the area where it was found was still under development at the time he went missing, and it’s possible an off-road accident and drowning were to blame.

As the Sun Sentinel notes, finding vehicles in canals and other small bodies of water in Florida isn’t exactly a rare occurrence, and sometimes those vehicles have human remains still seated inside. Careening off the road and into a pond or canal can quickly turn deadly when the vehicle is swallowed up, but it’s unclear if that’s what happened in this particular case.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Local News; Society
KEYWORDS: barryfay; florida; floridaman; google; googleearth; googlemaps; moldt; wellington; williamearlmoldt; williammoldt
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Amazing that nobody noticed him for 20 years.
1 posted on 09/13/2019 7:21:38 PM PDT by EdnaMode
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To: EdnaMode

2 posted on 09/13/2019 7:26:04 PM PDT by McGruff
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To: EdnaMode

Algae bloom in the shape of a mullet.


3 posted on 09/13/2019 7:26:20 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: EdnaMode

why would anyone notice? no one was looking for him. People see only what they want and expect to see.


4 posted on 09/13/2019 7:27:04 PM PDT by txnativegop (The political left, Mankinds intellectual hemlock)
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To: EdnaMode

It isn’t as if this was some remote deep water lake, it was clearly visible just yards from a nice home and recently cut grass. Seems pretty strange to me at a quick glance.


5 posted on 09/13/2019 7:29:45 PM PDT by Freedom4US
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6 posted on 09/13/2019 7:36:28 PM PDT by deport
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To: Freedom4US

Well, from the image it looks to me like while it’s obvious from above, it might not be visible from an oblique angle from one of the houses. But everybody likes to Google Maps search their neighborhood and I suspect it jumped out at him when he did.


7 posted on 09/13/2019 7:37:31 PM PDT by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: EdnaMode

Surprised that the county taxing authority did not note the vehicle and appraise the owner of the pond for having a parking structure.


8 posted on 09/13/2019 7:40:22 PM PDT by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's fore sure)
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To: McGruff

Thinking the same.


9 posted on 09/13/2019 7:40:38 PM PDT by Jane Long (Praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow.)
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To: bigbob

“Well, from the image it looks to me like while it’s obvious from above, it might not be visible from an oblique angle from one of the houses.”

This is exactly right.


10 posted on 09/13/2019 7:55:12 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: McGruff

That, or he made the mistake of letting a Kennedy drive his car home.


11 posted on 09/13/2019 7:57:15 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: EdnaMode
Amazing that nobody noticed him for 20 years.

But then again...it is FloriDuh.

Something really IS in the water.

12 posted on 09/13/2019 8:05:19 PM PDT by BureaucratusMaximus (NOT tired of winning.)
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To: BureaucratusMaximus

Silas Marner’s proof he didn’t steal.


13 posted on 09/13/2019 8:08:36 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: EdnaMode

Wouldn't you think someone would have questioned the tire tracks leading into the pond?

14 posted on 09/13/2019 8:09:16 PM PDT by McGruff
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To: EdnaMode

Is he gonna be ok?


15 posted on 09/13/2019 8:10:21 PM PDT by moovova
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To: EdnaMode

You mean Florida Man thats in the news everyday is an impostor?


16 posted on 09/13/2019 8:10:26 PM PDT by LeoTDB69
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To: EdnaMode
From Orlando south, Florida is laced with miles upon miles of open roadside drainage canals and ponds filled with murky water and tangles of vegetation. Gators and water moccasins mostly deter the curious.

Every few years, a car or truck with human remains is found in a canal or pond in Florida and a missing person case gets resolved. Usually, an abandoned canal car is found to have been stolen and abandoned after a joy ride or use in a crime. Police in some areas are overwhelmed with reports of cars in canals and ponds.

In most cases, it takes specialized divers and equipment to retrieve such a car and then forensic experts and detectives to look for remains and evidence of a crime. The cost of such an effort means that police usually just take the report of an old car seen in a canal and do little or nothing unless it can be connected to a report of a crime.

In one South Florida case, a grieving mother solved her son's long-ago disappearance when she went through local police files for canal car reports and found one that seemed to correspond to her son's car and likely route. When the car was retrieved, it was found to contain the son's remains and evidence that he had been murdered. An investigation eventually found his killers and led to their conviction.

17 posted on 09/13/2019 8:15:28 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: EdnaMode

Never be an early adopter of new technology. In this case, voice-assisted GPS.

“Turn left.”

“But there seems to be some wate...”

“I SAID TURN LEFT!”


18 posted on 09/13/2019 8:19:49 PM PDT by Rastus
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To: EdnaMode

Something similar happened here in Chicago years ago. I can’t recall who it was but the wife of a prominent person just drove off one day as usual and vanished.

She was found years later in a retention pond still in the front seat.

L


19 posted on 09/13/2019 8:20:20 PM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: McGruff

I doubt that anything you see in the picture are 22 year old tire tracks.


20 posted on 09/13/2019 8:38:31 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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