JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville Sheriff's Office dive team found a body inside a car submerged in a retention pond off Bowden Road Tuesday morning while searching for 21-month-old Lonzie Barton.
JSO Sgt. Craig Waldrup said investigators are confident the remains are not related to Lonzie’s disappearance.
JSO Chief Tom Hackney said it could be related to a 2003 missing person case.
The dive team was searching the pond around 11 a.m. when they found the Mazda at the bottom.
Firefighters had to use a crowbar and sledgehammer to get the rusted doors open.
A man’s skeletal remains were inside.
“Anytime we find something like this, we proceed as if there’s foul play involved. I don’t know for sure. It doesn’t appear to be just at first sight, but we don’t rule that out,” said Waldrup.
The car is so badly discolored after years submerged in the pond JSO can’t say for sure what the Mazda’s original color was.
Investigators found an intact Florida license plate and are now checking out the car’s background.
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“It’s sad because we ride past here every day. You would never know there were human body remains in the lake. That’s sad. That’s real sad,” said school bus driver Sherell Carson.
This is the second day in a row JSO has found human remains that may help solve missing person’s cases while searching for Lonzie Barton.
On Monday, investigators found human bones and clothing across from the Avenues Mall.
Waldrup said it’s possible they’ll find even more as their extensive search for Lonzie continues.
“Anytime you have this amount of personnel searching an area, you’re going to find things that you didn’t know were there, so I’m not really surprised but in the same sense I’m sure there’s a possibility to find some more,” said Waldrup.
Between the human remains and Lonzie’s disappearance, school bus driver Derrick Pope said he’s worried for the students he drives to school.
“It’s getting a lot worse in the community and we as a community need to pull together and work together and make the streets a lot safer for our children,” said Pope.
Waldrup said no one has reported seeing tire tracks on the grass heading into the pond.