22 Years After His Disappearance, a Lost Man Was Found Thanks to Google Maps

Everyone knows about"cold cases", those cases that go unresolved for many years and are reopened years later when new clues or evidence are found. In this case, all it took was someone noticing a white spot on Google Maps to solve a case that went cold more than 20 years ago.

An unresolved car accident

On November 7, 1997, William Earl Moldt, a 22-year-old American man from Palm Beach County, Florida, drove to a nightclub, as reported by the BBC.

Someone noticed a white spot in a lake on Google Maps

Nearly 22 years later, at the end of last August, a surfer was looking on Google Maps for a property in the town of Lantana when he noticed a strange white spot in a lake near his search area. When he zoomed into the satellite picture, he realised that it was actually a sunken car. He immediately contacted a man who lived near the pond to inform him of the situation.

The man used his drone to confirm the presence of the vehicle which was located a few meters from the shore. He then contacted the policeand the car was pulled out of the water. In the car, the police found askeleton that was officially identified, a week later, as William Earl Moldt.

A case closed 22 years later

According to the British media, a report issued by the cold case website Charley Protect states that the man lost control of his vehicle in that area, which was under construction at the time. Back then, the investigation hadn't gone far enough to reach this conclusion. The victim's family was, of course, contacted and informed of the progress of the investigation.

"All we know is that he disappeared from the surface of the Earth and now he is found," said a spokeswoman for the police, Therese Barbera, to the BBC.Charley Protect's reportstates that before he disappeared, he called his girlfriend to tell her that he was coming home. The fatal incident occurred on his way home. This sad case is now closed.