In 1980, a wealthy New York couple, Charles Romer, 73, and his wife Catherine, 75, vanished without a trace while returning home from Miami Beach. They had checked into a Holiday Inn in Brunswick, Georgia. Hotel employees grew concerned when their bed remained unoccupied, leading to their reported missing status. Fears of foul play and robbery loomed as the couple was known to carry expensive jewelry.

Discovering the Hidden Truth

The hotel was adjacent to a pond that had been searched numerous times before, but poor visibility had always thwarted searchers. However, on a fateful Friday, volunteer divers Mike Sullivan and John Martin, operating Sunshine State Sonar, a Florida-based volunteer search and rescue organization, used their specialized sonar equipment and tiny 6-foot-long boat. In just seven minutes, they located a vehicle at the bottom of the pond. Sullivan quickly dived down and pulled out the nose of a 1978 Lincoln. Alongside the car, human remains and a collection of jewelry were also found.

The Submerged Lincoln

As the pond was drained, the badly deteriorated 1978 Lincoln came into view. The back seat of the car had the initials “C.R.R” embroidered, and an axle with a wheel was also discovered. Glynn County Police Department stated that the vehicle resembled the one the Romers were believed to be driving when they went missing. But at this time, no conclusion had been reached about the identity of the remains.

Police did not disclose what had happened to the car or the people inside. Sullivan is convinced that the remains belong to the couple and suspects that they may have accidentally reversed into the pond while trying to park and met a tragic end. The closeness of the pond to the hotel and the long wait for a discovery raised questions about why it wasn't made earlier. Sullivan explained that sonar technology was not available in 1980, and divers swimming around in zero visibility had a difficult time finding the car. Sometimes, they came close but just couldn't locate it.

Sullivan also mentioned that they were initially called to the scene based on a tip about a Ford sedan that had gone into the water, but no bodies were found near that vehicle. The work of Sunshine State Sonar is done for free as they collaborate with law enforcement agencies on cold cases. They specialize in underwater sonar and are also a dive team.

The Last Known Moments

The Romers had checked into the Holiday Inn along Interstate 95 and U.S. 341 just before 4 p.m. on April 8, 1980, and taken their belongings to their room. Around 5 p.m., a Georgia Highway Patrol officer saw their car south of Brunswick near some restaurants, and that was the last sighting of them. Sullivan hypothesized that the couple might have been parking at a diner and accidentally stepped on the gas pedal while reversing, causing them to back into the lake. The headlights facing the shore seemed to support this theory. Additionally, police found diamonds worth tens of thousands of dollars wrapped in the trunk carpet.

Sullivan described finding a diamond ring, necklace, a gold purse, and other items with the couple's initials on them. The fact that the pond was so close to the hotel yet it took so long to make a breakthrough remains a mystery.

Divers were seen in the water at the scene, carrying out their search with determination. Sunshine State Sonar's database contains all cases of missing people with their vehicles, and they search the areas where the victims were last known to be. In this case, it was the pond in front of the hotel where the Romers were staying.