Dead man’s car missing for nine years … but visible for years on Google Maps

The body of a man missing for almost a decade has been found inside a sunken car - which has been visible on Google Maps for years. Davie Lee Niles’ skeletal remains were recovered after his vehicle was pulled by rescue workers from a pond in Michigan. The car was spotted by workman Brian Houseman, who was decorating a Christmas tree outside a funeral home in Byron Township. But satellite photos on Google Maps clearly show the wreckage just under the surface of the water.

All of a sudden, it’s like, ‘Whoa, there’s a car out there’. No one could ever see it.

Brian Houseman, who spotted the car

Mr Niles, who had been suffering from cancer and depression, disappeared on 11 October 2006 after leaving a bar in Byron. The lake where his car was found is about half-a-mile away from where he was last seen. Investigators from Kent County Sheriff’s office are checking dental records before positively identifying the body, but they believe it is Mr Niles because the vehicle was his and they found his wallet in the car. In 2011, his family published an obituary, which read: “Davie Lee Niles, age 72, of Wyoming, passed away and only God knows the time and place.”

For us today, it’s a closure of a long search. Why God waited nine years, I have no idea, but we’re happy.

Mr Niles’ son-in-law Scott Hathway

pond car Americas