Google Earth
Since Google Earth was introduced, people have used it to scout areas that they wouldn’t have been able to without it. Many discoveries were made through Google Earth, such as the red waters of Lake Urmia in the Middle East, A grid shape on the ocean floor that is said to be the lost city of Atlantis, and the presence of Mount Mabu. Google Earth has even been helpful in solving mysteries. A Florida man made an unsettling discovery on Google Earth that unraveled a 22-year-old mystery.
Moon Bay Circle, Wellington
A property surveyor was on Google Earth one day, checking out his former neighborhood. He wanted to see how much the area had changed since he and his wife divorced, and he moved out of the community. What he saw on the satellite image shocked him.
A Car In the Water
The man was looking at the images of water behind one of the houses in his neighborhood, and when he looked closer, he saw what looked like a car in the water. He texted his ex-wife and asked her to check it out. The man’s ex mentioned his find to her neighbor, BarryFay, who agreed that the images on Google Earth suggested that there was a car in the pond behind his house. He went out to the pond to look for the car. He wanted to know if it could be spotted from ground level, but he saw nothing. Barry had been living in the house for over a year and never knew about the car hidden under the water.
Help From a Neighbor
After talking to the man’s ex who told him about the car in the pond, Barry became very curious. He asked a neighbor who had a drone to fly it over the pond. Fortunately, the drone had a camera attached. The neighbor flew it over the pond, and took photos of the car that was submerged in the water. By this point, Barry decided that it was time to call the police.
Crime Scene Tape
When Barry went to the police, he brought the drone photos and a printout from Google Earth. The police went to Barry’s home, and they taped off the entire yard. They believed the pond was a crime scene, and they didn’t want to destroy any evidence. They also make plans to pull the car up from the water.
The Car
The police pulled the car from the pond, and they examined it. It was calcified, which led them to believe that it had been underwater for a long time. It was a white Saturn SL and was 25-years old. When the police pulled the car from the water, they never expected that it would help them solve a 22-year-old cold case.
William Moldt
When the police looked inside the car, they discovered a human skeleton. The coroner determined that the body was the remains of a man named William Moldt. In the winter of 1997, William, a mortgage broker, went to a nightclub and had not been seen since.
Missing Person’s Report
According to the missing person’s report filed in 1997, William was at a nightclub in November. He called his girlfriend at 9:30 pm to let her know that he would be home soon. The people in the bar reported seeing him with a drink in his hand, but he didn’t seem drunk. Also, his friends and family didn’t describe him as a big drinker. He was wearing a suit and dress shoes, and he left the bar before midnight. After that, he was never seen again.
Veered off the Road
The police believe that William lost control of his car, and it went into the pond. Back then, Barry’s house was in the process of being built, which made it possible for the vehicle to go into the pond. The police were surprised that with all the construction going on in the area that nobody noticed the car in the pond.
Simple Reason
There is a very good reason why the car wasn’t discovered until 2019. According to Science Alert, Google Earth constantly updates its images. The images taken from the satellite in 2017 were too blurry to see the car. It wasn’t until they were updated in 2019 that the image was clear enough to make out the car. Barry was shocked by this news, and he let his neighbor know what he learned about the car. Since it was her ex-husband who discovered the car in the first place, Barry believed wanted her to let him know. The police never expected to solve this missing person case, and they never expected the case to be solved by Google Earth.
