A team of independent divers on Monday located a vehicle submerged in Mount Sinai Harbor, Long Island, with human remains inside, prompting an investigation by the Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad.
Exploring With a Mission, a nonprofit dedicated to recovering missing individuals by removing submerged vehicles from rivers and lakes, along with its partner, Adventures With Purpose, announced in a social media post early Tuesday that they’d found “one of the lost loved ones” they had been searching for on Long Island.
A Suffolk County police spokesperson confirmed to the Daily News that representatives from both volunteer organizations used side-scan sonar near the Cedar Beach boat ramp and located a submerged Chrysler PT Cruiser about 55 yards from shore around 5 p.m. on Monday.
After divers entered the water shortly after 7:30 p.m., they found “what they believed to be a human bone in the vehicle,” which they brought to the surface before contacting 911.
Marine Bureau divers responded to the scene and continued with the search, which was suspended around 9 p.m. due to water conditions.
Teams returned to the site Tuesday morning, when divers “located additional human remains,” according to police. The vehicle was then removed from the water by a crane from Murphy’s Marine Services in Port Jefferson.
The remains have been sent to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine their identity and a cause of death.
Officials have not offered additional details on the case, but according to local reports, the volunteer divers were in Suffolk County searching for a 62-year-old man who went missing nearly 15 years ago.
Robert Long, of Miller Place, was last seen in December 2010, Newsday reported at the time. According to his wife, he drove to a wine store in a PT Cruiser but never returned home.
Early on Tuesday, detectives reportedly notified Long’s family that his missing PT Cruiser may have been found, but clarified they had not yet made a positive identification.
