Skeletal remains of man found in submerged car spotted on Google Earth 22 years after he went missing
WELLINGTON, FLORIDA: The remains of a person found last month in a Wellington Pond has been identified as William Moldt, a man who was reported missing more than 20 years ago, the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office has confirmed.
The unsettling discovery was made on August 28 after deputies from the PBSO responded to the 3700 block of Moon Bay Circle in Grand Isles, a housing development, with regards to a report that the caller had found a submerged vehicle in the retention pond, according to WPTV.
Bizarrely enough, the caller, a manager of the housing development zone, had spotted the car while browsing Google Earth.
"Amazingly, the vehicle had been plainly visible on a Google Earth satellite image of the area since 2007, but apparently no one had noticed it until 2019, when a property surveyor saw the car while looking at Google Earth," reads a description on the Charley Project, a database that compiles information on cold cases across the country.
On their arrival, deputies saw that the exterior of the vehicle was heavily calcified, indicating that it had been submerged for a considerable amount of time. When they had the vehicle removed, human skeletal remains were found inside.
Detectives and Crime Scene Investigators were subsequently called to the scene and took over the investigation, with the vehicle and remains towed to the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office for processing.
The PCSO confirmed this week that the remains were positively identified as William Earl Moldt, who was 40-years-old when he was initially reported missing on November 8, 1997. At the time of his disappearance, the Grand Isles housing estate was still under construction.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, Moldt was last seen at around 11 pm on November 7 leaving an adult night club. He did not appear to be intoxicated and left alone in his vehicle.
He was described as a "quiet" man and reportedly did not socialize much at the club, though he did have "several drinks" despite not being much of a frequent drinker.
His last known contact with anyone was a call he made to his girlfriend from the night club at around 9.30 the same night, where he told her he would be home soon. It is unclear how Moldt's car fell into the bond, and no further details about his disappearance or death have been revealed yet.