By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-28 18:31:53 | Updated at 2024-11-28 20:40:10
2 hours ago
Eerie new photos show the personal belongings of a wealthy couple who vanished almost 45 years ago after their car and bodies were found submerged in a pond.
A purse, jewelry, toothpaste with Colgate still visible on the tube, and high-heel shoes were some of the belongings frozen in time when the pond was dredged.
Crusted with mud, muck, and rust, they were painstakingly retrieved and laid out on sheets next to the pond off Interstate 95 near Brunswick, Georgia.
The bodies of retired Sinclair Oil executive Charles Romer, 73, and his wife Catherine, 75, who suddenly disappeared on April 8, 1980, were believed to also be in the pond.
They were found inside the rotted remains of the black custom model 1979 Lincoln Continental they were driving, which also disappeared on the same day.
Charles and Catherine were longtime friends who got married in 1974. They were on their way home to Scarsdale, New York from Miami, Florida before they vanished.
Catherine and Charles Romer went missing in 1980 while stopping in Georgia on their way home from Miami
They were found inside the black custom model 1979 Lincoln Continental they were driving, which also disappeared on the same day
A purse, jewellery, and toothpaste with Colgate still visible on the tube, were some of the beongings frozen in time when the pond was dredged.
A pair of high-heel shoes, covered in mud and muck, were also recovered after 44 years
A car submerged in a Georgia pond with a human bone inside had been linked to the Romer's cold case
They stopped along their route on I-95 at a Holiday Inn in Brunswick, Georgia, on April 8 - one of the last places the couple was seen.
They checked in at 3.51pm and took their belongings into Room 149, and by about 5pm, a Georgia Highway Patrol officer saw the car south of Brunswick near some restaurants.
Hotel staffers raised alarm on April 11 and reported the Romers missing when they noticed their bed had not been slept in.
Employees found unpacked bags, tax returns and a bottle of scotch inside the vacant room, but no sign of them or their car.
Catherine was wearing $81,000 in jewelry when she disappeared with her husband, according to the Associated Press.
Catherine was reportedly wearing $81,000 in jewelry when the couple vanished
They were found inside the black custom model 1979 Lincoln Continental they were driving, which also disappeared on the same day
Overhead view of the high-end car that was found buried in the mud for decades
Sunshine State Sonar made the discovery about 10am after a tip about a submerged vehicle, which was later identified as a 1970s Ford sedan
The belingings were painstakingly retrieved and laid out on sheets next to the pond off Interstate 95 near Brunswick, Georgia
Parts of the car, including this wheel and axel, were brought out separately, having fallen off the rest of the vehicle over time
Sunshine State Sonar divers haul pieces of the car from the depths of the pond
But on Friday, the decades old dead-end case was resurfaced when a Florida Sound Navigation and Ranging (Sonar) search team found a car believed to be theirs submerged in a pond off of the Interstate 95 in Brunswick.
'Ultimately a match must be determined by the VIN number and it has not been possible yet to get that from the vehicle found in the pond,' the Glynn County Police Department said.
Sunshine State Sonar made the discovery about 10am after a tip about a submerged vehicle, which was later identified as a 1970s Ford sedan.
'Further investigation led to the discovery of an additional vehicle, ultimately determined to be the vehicle belonging to Charles and Catherine Romer,' it said.
'We promptly notified the Glynn County Police Detectives of the discovery, including the 1970s Ford sedan.'
Taking a deeper look, one human bone was found inside of the car, but DNA results to confirm they belong to the missing couple are pending.
Charles and Catherine's disappearances have baffled family members and investigators for decades
The couple drove a black custom model 1979 Lincoln Continental, which resembled the car dug up on Friday
The couple got married in 1974 - just six years before they were last seen - after being longtime friends
'At this time there is no conclusion about the identity of the remains that were found,' police said.
'The pond is being drained and special equipment is being utilized to allow for a thorough investigation by GCPD and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.'
Although no solid conclusion has been drawn about the circumstances surrounding the vanished wealthy couple, investigators, Brunswick locals and family members have speculated over the years.
'We all felt with our experience that these people had been kidnapped and killed for her jewelry, and the vehicle and the bodies were hidden in the water,' rescue diver George Baker, who searched for the car over the years, told the AP in 1998.
Former Holiday Inn employee Andy Mavromat told Action News Jax: 'He was in the oil industry; he was worth a bunch of money. When I worked at Holiday Inn, it was the big thing, and we never knew happened to them.
'We figured with all the money they had, someone followed them and robbed them.'
Given the discovery, Mavromat said maybe the couple lost control of their car and fell into the lake.
Charles was officially declared dead in 1985, leaving his two sons with a $1.2 million estate.
Catherine's nine grandchildren took the discovery to heart and reflected on their late grandmother.
People have thought about what may have happened for years. The car's discovery has shed new light on the circumstances for family members
The Sonar team from Florida was searching the pond for another car when they discovered the Lincoln
'All the investigations and psychics and everything, the police, they worked so hard, and Blackwater divers have been searching for years. And they thought it was foul play,' Christine Seaman Heller, Catherine's granddaughter, told ABC7.
Heller said she found some comfort in the discovery and is hoping to gain some final closure.
'I was talking about it yesterday with a friend of mine because it's always been such a mystery. So, it would be so wonderful to find out, just have some peace. You know maybe it wasn't a horrible ending, maybe it was just an accident,' she said.
