Body Found After YouTubers Locate Car Linked To Missing FL Woman

LAKELAND, FL — One day after divers from a popular YouTube channel located a car in a retention pond believed linked to a missing Florida woman, the Polk County Sheriff's Office confirmed Thursday that a body was found inside.

On Wednesday following a two-day search, divers from the YouTube show "Adventures with Purpose" announced on Facebook that they found a Green 2012 Kia Soul driven by 59-year-old Margaret "Jan" Shupe Smith who was last seen April 2, 2021 in Lakeland.

Based in Oregon and with nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers, Shupe's family had reached out to the sonar search and recovery dive team for help.

The group attempted searches at several bodies of water in the area of Smith's south Lakeland home, but were unsuccessful, the sheriff's office said.

A PCSO deputy informed the group that Smith had been involved in a minor crash at Socrum Loop Road North and Old Polk City Road in Lakeland the night she went missing.

The crash investigator told detectives that she had driven west from the crash scene, although she eventually got turned around because the Kia was discovered in a retention pond north of the crash scene.

With the information about the crash, the dive team said it made one last attempt at one of several retention ponds around the Hunters Crossing subdivision and located it completely submerged near the middle of the pond where the water was seven feet deep.

PCSO's Underwater Search and Recovery Team (USART) pulled the vehicle from the pond, and a woman's body was discovered in the Kia.

"This was a tragic accident, and our prayers are with the family. We're grateful for 'Adventures with Purpose' working with us in locating the vehicle," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.

Positive identification remains to be made, the sheriff's office said.

According to their website, the Adventures with Purpose dive crew travel the country assisting with missing persons' cases that have gone cold. Based in Oregon, they said they've helped solve 18 cases so far involving people who've disappeared.