Car, Bone Found In GA Pond Linked To Scarsdale Couple Missing 44 Years

SCARSDALE, NY — Police in Georgia say that one of Westchester County's most notorious cold cases could finally be solved.

The Glynn County Police Department in Georgia, along with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said they are investigating the discovery of human remains in a submerged car found on Friday, in a pond between the Royal Inn Hotel and I-95 on New Jesup Highway.

The Lincoln Continental was found by the Sunshine State Sonar Team from Florida. Police say that the vehicle is similar to the description of a vehicle that Charles and Catherine Romer, of Scarsdale, were believed to be driving when reported missing in April of 1980.

Investigators, with the help of the Camden County Dive Team, found a human bone in the car.

Authorities said that there is no firm conclusion yet about the identity of the remains that were found. The pond was being drained and special equipment was being used to allow for a more thorough investigation by the Glynn County Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

According to an October 9, 1985 report in The New York Times, 74-year-old Charles Romer, a retired oil company executive, and his 76-year-old wife disappeared from a Georgia motel in 1980.

In 1985, Charles Romer was declared dead by a Westchester County surrogate, which allowed his will to be entered into probate. He left an estate worth $1.2 million to his sons.

One of his sons, Charles R. Romer Jr. of Mahwah, N.J., told the newspaper at the time, "We just don't have any leads right now at all."

However, he added he would continue his annual tradition of going to Brunswick police to "let them know I'm still alive."

"I'll never give up on it," Romer said. "I'll always try to find out what happened."

The couple was last heard from in a phone call to one of their sons on Easter, which was on April 6, as they prepared to leave a Miami Beach hotel to drive home to their Scarsdale condominium, according to the Times article.

According to the newspaper, on April 8, the Romers arrived at the Holiday Inn in Brunswick, registered, unpacked, and then disappeared. Glasses and a bottle of Scotch were found in their room, along with their tax returns, and the bed had been turned down.

Three days later, when a motel employee reported that the room had not been occupied, police began a search.

According to the Times, the family said that Catherine Romer had jewelry worth between $60,000 and $80,000 with her.

"All the investigations and psychics and everything, the police, they worked so hard, and Blackwater divers have been searching for years. And they thought it was foul play," Christine Seaman Heller, granddaughter of the missing woman told ABC News more recently.

But family told the television station that what's been most difficult for Catherine Romer's nine grandchildren, was the notion all these years later that their beloved grandmother and her husband had been victims of a terrible crime and had suffered.

According to a report from the The Brunswick News, those fears may have proven unfounded on Friday after Sunshine State Sonar Team divers Mike Sullivan and John Martin found the car in the pond.

Sullivan told the newspaper that inside the car were bones and other human remains as well as jewelry that investigators believed at the time may have been stolen because it was missing from their room.

He added that he believes that on April 8, 1980, they may have accidentally put the car in reverse after eating at a diner next door to the hotel and driven into the pond.

"All indications right now show that this was a tragic accident," Sullivan told the paper.

This investigation is ongoing and any person with information about this case is encouraged to contact the Glynn County Police Department Non-Emergency at (912) 554-3645 or anonymously via Silent Witness at (912) 264-1333.