Car Buried At Peninsula Home Is A Mercedes Convertible: Cops

ATHERTON, CA — The car found buried at a $15 million Peninsula mansion Thursday was a Mercedes Benz convertible, but investigators still don’t know whether a possible detection of human remains by cadaver dogs indicates the case involves foul play, Atherton police told reporters Friday.

Officers at around 8:50 a.m. Thursday responded to the 300 block of Stockbridge Avenue on the report that landscapers found a buried vehicle while working on a project, police said.

The vehicle was filled with bags of concrete and buried 4 to 5 feet deep, possibly in the 1990s, according to police.

Atherton Police Department spokesperson Dan Larsen on Friday told reporters the dogs who on Thursday picked up “a slight notification of possible human remains” may have detected human remains, blood, old bones, or vomit.

"It could be any one of those things. At the moment, we don't know exactly what they're reacting to," Larsen told reporters.

"We don't know if this is a criminal or noncriminal investigation," Larsen said.

Johnny Bocktune Lew, who owned the 351 Stockbridge Ave. property in the 1990s, had a lengthy criminal history that included a 1977 conviction on two counts of attempted murder and a murder conviction in the 1960s that was later overturned, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

In 1999 the since-deceased property owner was accused of paying undercover officers $30,000 in cash and gold watches valued at $20,000 to sink a $1.2 million yacht in part of an alleged insurance fraud scheme, the report said.

The vehicle was buried before the current homeowner moved in, police said.

“The motive and circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation,” police said.
The property was built in 1990 and sold for $15 million in 2020 according to Zillow, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. It sold for $7.3 million in 2014.

Atherton, located about 30 miles south of San Francisco, is one of the nation's most wealthy towns and is home to some 7,000 residents, according to The Associated Press.

No additional information was immediately available.