Remember an old thread about finding bones in a submerged Mercedes in Florida?

[TylerH860]

I couldn't find the old thread, but here is the original story with the photos.

To summarize, they found 110 cars in this canal one of which a R107 with human remains inside.

Article:

http://www.wpbf.com/r/14774619/detail.html

Photos:

http://www.wpbf.com/slideshow/news/14774712/detail.html

I don't recall it ever being updated, and I was thinking today if the story had been solved. Sure enough...

Bones identified as Barry Fish, of Boca Raton

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localne...NES.html?imw=Y

Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Fifteen years ago, Barry Fish disappeared.
Struggling with an addiction to prescription painkillers, Fish, 42, left his parents' suburban Boca Raton home one day, driven out by an argument he had had with his father. He got in his silver 1986 Mercedes coupe and drove to Deerfield Beach, where he checked in to the Wellesley Inn on Southwest 12th Avenue.

His family, who reported him missing on Nov. 11, 1992, never saw him or his car again. For closure's sake, Fish's parents went to court and in 1997 had their middle child declared dead. Even so, Sidney Fish - who loved his boys more than anything and was dogged by guilt over that final confrontation - and his wife, Sara, lived out the rest of their lives not knowing whether their son was alive or dead.
"I'm sure that they lived and hoped and prayed that one day he would walk in the door, as we all did," Fish's older brother, Robert, said today.
After the couple died last year, uncertainty remained. Those closest to Barry - especially Robert Fish, his younger brother, Larry, and Robert's wife, Lana - would sometimes get together and hash out theories about what had become of him. "There wasn't a day that went by when I didn't think of him and wonder what happened," Larry Fish said.
Nothing was certain, they told each other. He might turn up yet. They hired a private detective. Asked the State Department to flag his passport. In spite of the odds, their quiet brand of hope held out as the years accumulated, until, on Dec. 4, authorities stumbled across a little silver coupe at the bottom of the Hillsboro Canal.
A search for a white car used in the August murder of Broward County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Reyka led deputies into the dirty brown water off Lox Road. Working by touch, a diver connected a winch to what felt like a solid part of a submerged car. Soon after, a Mercedes roiled to the water's surface.
Inside, still buckled in to the driver's seat, deputies saw a set of human bones. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Detective Michael Bianchi ran the car's registration and pulled Fish's missing persons report before consulting an expert for a final confirmation. In one of life's twisted little ironies, it fell to Barry's brother, Robert, a forensic dentist who works in Broward County, to compare his brother's dental records with the skull recovered from the sunken Mercedes.
Here at last was the concrete evidence they had pined for all these years. There could be no more doubt: Barry Fish, scratch golfer, A-student, best-looking of three boys, was gone. Authorities said the death appeared accidental.
Now all that's left is a dull pain, accompanied by the knowledge that, all these years, as they had pictured him off and wandering some far-away city, Fish had been just a few miles west of his parent's suburban Boca Raton home, hidden under 8-feet of murky water.
After absorbing the news, Robert and Larry Fish set about making final arrangements. They plan to bury their brother near their childhood synagogue in Zanesville, Ohio, alongside his mother and father.
Then, Robert Fish said, "He will finally be at peace." Staff researcher Melanie Mena contributed to this story.

[compu_85]

How did 110 cars end up in one spot?

It's got to be sad, but nice for the family to have some closure.

-J

[TylerH860]

Originally Posted by compu_85

How did 110 cars end up in one spot?

It's got to be sad, but nice for the family to have some closure.

-J

I imagine many were reported stolen. Dumped after a joy ride, or for an insurance claim perhaps?

[Billybob]

Originally Posted by compu_85

How did 110 cars end up in one spot?

It's got to be sad, but nice for the family to have some closure.

-J

From the article it was a few mile stretch of the canal. Back in the 80's that area would have been the boondocks! Nothing but agriculture and possibly mining operations for as far as you could see. The canal was the only feature where someone could hide something so it was a place where a car could be dumped pretty easily, I don't recall that road in particular but there may not even been guard rails along it back then.

The area is immediately adjacent to the Loxahatchee Refuge a northern part of the Everglades actually. Back then most of the area west of Okeechobee Blvd. in Palm Beach County with the exception of places like Atlantis and Wellington and other gated communities (they are surrounded by canals also) was considered "Cracker" country; the KKK had regular rallies out that way just off Southern Blvd. in a huge quarry. You didn't go screwing around out that way without attracting attention, then that whole area was the province of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Richard P. Wille and his people where "not to be trifled with".

Palm Beach County was pretty wild then with all the drug trade so it is almost surprising they only found one set of human remains!

[joegolden]

seems like I read a story similar to this a few years ago except it was several missing teens reported missing in the 70's...A fisherman in a canal could see what appeared to be the undercarriage of a van exposed just feet below the water surface. They pulled the van and found the remains of the missing teens...Creepy ass canals!

[TylerH860]

Originally Posted by joegolden

seems like I read a story similar to this a few years ago except it was several missing teens reported missing in the 70's...A fisherman in a canal could see what appeared to be the undercarriage of a van exposed just feet below the water surface. They pulled the van and found the remains of the missing teens...Creepy ass canals!

Found it... SAME CANAL

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1997-03-03/news/9703030047_1_dade-county-palm-beach-county-sebastian-inlet

[joegolden]

no way! Same canal...wow thats amazing..I thought I just read that story maybe 5 yrs ago...Not in 1997..Time flies