Dozens of cars found submerged in lake could be linked to unsolved crimes
Police in Florida are investigating the possibility of dozens of cars submerged in a lake being linked to unsolved crimes.
Miami-Dade police received a tip from a volunteer diver that a number of cars were submerged in Doral Lake. Around 32 cars are being investigated.
“The first vehicle was an Acura Legend that was removed. It was stolen around 2002," said Doral Police Department Chief Edwin Lopez. "The second vehicle was a 1980s vehicle that was stolen in the late 90s."
None of the cars have yet been linked to homicide cases, as Doral Mayor Christi Fraga called the area a "hot spot." She said: "The first two vehicles that were pulled up have been submerged for over 20 years and both were reported as stolen vehicles.
Divers are looking to see if the cars are linked to missing person cases (NBC)"It seems that this area was a hot spot when none of this was developed where cars were driven into the lakes. As each vehicle is pulled out of the water, a thorough investigation will be done and they will run the VIN numbers to make sure that it’s tied back to cases that may have been open for many years."
Divers said the cars are being investigated specifically to see if they are linked to missing person cases.
"These are most likely the types of vehicles we're gonna find here dumped in this lake," MDPD spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta said. "Vehicles that have perhaps been abandoned and they wanted to get rid of them, they got rid of them here, or those that took them for a joy ride, they were stolen, and then were dumped inside the lake."
The lake is in an industrial area surrounded by warehouses. A car recovered on Tuesday was reported to be s a 2002 Nissan Altima, which was confirmed to be stolen.
Cranes were used to recover the cars (NBC)Police used cranes to pull the cars from the water before forensics units got to work when the crs were on land. A further eight cars remain in the lake and red markers have been used to indicate their location.
“They think it’s about 20. It’s hard to say how many until they comb the whole surface," Zabaleta said. "No matter how small that information may seem, when the community calls police or Crime Stoppers, it could help them solve cases."
Detectives are looking into how the cars were hidden in the lake and who may have put them there. Doral Police Commander Alicia Neal said the vehicles dated as far back as 1996.
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