PALM HARBOR, Fla. — The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office has been working most of the day to try and recover a car from the bottom of the Lake Tarpon Canal that was believed to have been down there for decades.

It was found over the weekend by a volunteer organization specializing in using sonar to help with cold cases and underwater searches.

What You Need To Know

  • A volunteer sonar team discovered a car from the 1970s at the bottom of the Lake Tarpon Canal

  • After spending all morning looking through the sunken vehicle, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office was only able to recover two tires because the car was so brittle

  • In searching the vehicle, officials didn't find any human remains

  • The sonar team, Sunshine State Sonar, had been searching for a missing car connected to a 1990's cold case

Mike Sullivan, the sonar team’s founder, wasn’t going to miss this.

“At this point, it’s just curiosity,” Sullivan, who was with his team, Sunshine State Sonar, when they made the discovery over the weekend. “You know, is someone’s loved one in that vehicle?”

As the founder of his volunteer group, once a week he and his guys go out searching for missing cars and missing people using sonar technology.

“You just never know what we're going to find for vehicles under here,” Sullivan said.

And in the process of looking for a car stemming from a cold case involving a missing person from the 1990’s, they found something at the bottom of the Lake Tarpon Canal, only what they found was not the car they were looking for.

“Based on our experience finding vehicles, it’s in pretty bad shape,” Sullivan said.

They ended up finding a car from the 1970s, most likely a Chevy Vega based on the little bits they could retrieve.

“It is silted to the doors so only the top half of the car is showing,” Sullivan said.

For Sullivan, it’s a mixed bag to hear that their search continues.

“You go from this this high all the way down to just pure disappointment,” Sullivan said.

Even still, there was optimism that what they found could lead to something that’s potentially a connection from another cold case involving two sisters that went missing in the 1970s.

With a crowd starting to form along the bridge over the canal, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office spent hours searching the car 15 feet below the surface.

In the end, they could only take out a couple of tires because the car was so brittle.

Sullivan said he spoke with someone with the Sheriff’s Office and he was told they didn’t find any remains.

“It really could be related to anything,” he said.” You know, that’ll be up to them to determine.”

So, their work continues in helping families find their loved ones while making sure each water way in Florida is thoroughly searched to find anyone that might be below the surface.