PILOT MOUNTAIN — It looks like the case of the sunken car will remain a mystery.
According to Michael Boaz, interim town manager of Pilot Mountain, a car that was discovered in a pond off of Lola Lane is presumed to be a junk car that was placed in the pond at an unknown time.
“The best we can tell, the car was abandoned,” Boaz said.
The car, which was previously submerged, became visible after heavy rain showers washed out the pond on Aug. 4.
“It’s been in there a long time,” Boaz said.
He added that the town has no idea of when or how the car was placed in the pond.
According to Boaz, while investigating the car, the police department found no evidence that foul play contributed to the car’s location inside the pond.
“They didn’t find any remains in the car,” Boaz said.
Boaz said that the town has no reason to remove the car from the pond and that he assumes the car will remain in the pond.
Boaz explained that he isn’t entirely sure of how the car could be removed from the pond if it needed to be due to extensive levels of rust. Boaz said that if someone attempted to remove the car, he assumes that the car would fall apart.
Last week, Chief Daryl Bottoms, of the Pilot Mountain Police Department, said that the police department would be working to identify a VIN number on the car in order to figure out who the owner of the car was before it was went into the pond.
However, according to Boaz, the police department wasn’t able to find a VIN number on the car due to the rust, adding that the police department also looked into alternative ways to identify the car, but was unable to do so due to the car’s condition.
GIS (Geographic Information System) records indicate that the owner of the pond is Ron and David Construction Inc., run by Ron Moorefield and David Inman.
However, Inman said he was not involved with the property as an owner and refused to provide any additional comment or information.
Boaz confirmed that officials from the police department spoke with the owners of the pond, but couldn’t speak to the content of the discussion.