Eerie new photographs show the personal belongings of a wealthy couple who disappeared almost 45 years ago after their car and bodies were found submerged in a pond.
A purse, jewelry, toothpaste with Colgate still visible in the tube and high-heeled shoes were among the belongings frozen in time when the pond was dredged.
Covered in mud, manure and rust, they were painstakingly recovered and placed on sheets next to the pond off Interstate 95 near Brunswick, Georgia.
Also believed to be in the pond were the bodies of retired Sinclair Oil executive Charles Romer, 73, and his wife Catherine, 75, who suddenly disappeared on April 8, 1980.
They were found inside the rotted remains of the black custom 1979 Lincoln Continental they were driving, which also disappeared that same day.
Charles and Catherine were long-time friends and married in 1974. They were on their way home to Scarsdale, New York from Miami, Florida, before they disappeared.
Catherine and Charles Romer disappeared in 1980 while stopping in Georgia on their way home from Miami.
They were found inside the customized black 1979 Lincoln Continental they were driving, which also disappeared that same day.
A purse, jewelry and toothpaste with Colgate still visible in the tube were among the belongings frozen in time when the pond was dredged.
A pair of high-heeled shoes, covered in mud and dung, were also recovered after 44 years.
A car submerged in a Georgia pond with a human bone inside had been linked to the Romer cold case
They stopped along their route on I-95 at a Holiday Inn in Brunswick, Georgia, on April 8, one of the last places the couple was seen.
They checked in at 3:51 p.m. and took their belongings to room 149, and around 5:00 p.m., a Georgia Highway Patrol officer spotted the car south of Brunswick, near some restaurants.
Hotel staff raised the alarm on April 11 and reported the Romers missing when they noticed they had not slept in their bed.
Employees found unpacked bags, tax returns and a bottle of whiskey inside the empty room, but no sign of them or their car.
Catherine was wearing $81,000 worth of jewelry when she disappeared with her husband, according to the Associated Press.
Catherine was reportedly wearing $81,000 worth of jewelry when the couple disappeared.
They were found inside the customized black 1979 Lincoln Continental they were driving, which also disappeared that same day.
Aerial view of high-end car that was found buried in mud for decades
Sunshine State Sonar made the discovery around 10 a.m. after receiving a tip about a submerged vehicle, which was later identified as a 1970s Ford sedan.
The items were carefully recovered and placed on sheets next to the pond off Interstate 95 near Brunswick, Georgia.
Parts of the car, including this wheel and axle, were removed separately as they eventually fell off the rest of the vehicle.
Sunshine State Sonar divers pull car parts from depths of pond
But on Friday, the decades-old deadlock case resurfaced when a Florida Sound Navigation and Ranging (Sonar) search team found a car believed to be his submerged in a pond off Interstate 95 in Brunswick.
“Ultimately, a match must be determined by the VIN number and it has not yet been possible to obtain it from the vehicle found in the pond,” the Glynn County Police Department said.
Sunshine State Sonar made the discovery around 10 a.m. after receiving a tip about a submerged vehicle, which was later identified as a 1970s Ford sedan.
“Further investigation led to the discovery of an additional vehicle, which was ultimately determined to be the vehicle belonging to Charles and Catherine Romer,” he said.
“We immediately notified Glynn County Police Detectives of the discovery, including the 1970s Ford sedan.”
Looking deeper, a human bone was found inside the car, but DNA results to confirm it belongs to the missing couple are pending.
The disappearances of Charles and Catherine have baffled relatives and investigators for decades.
The couple was driving a custom black 1979 Lincoln Continental, which resembled the car unearthed Friday.
The couple married in 1974, just six years before they were last seen, after being friends for a long time.
“At this time there is no conclusion regarding the identity of the remains found,” police said.
“The pond is being drained and special equipment is being used to allow for a thorough investigation by GCPD and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.”
Although no solid conclusion has been reached about the circumstances surrounding the missing wealthy couple, investigators, Brunswick locals and family members have speculated over the years.
“We all felt, from our experience, that these people had been kidnapped and killed for their jewelry, and that the vehicle and the bodies were hidden in the water,” rescue diver George Baker, who searched for the car, told the AP. over the years. 1998.
Andy Mavromat, a former Holiday Inn employee, said Action News Jax: ‘He was in the oil industry; It was worth a lot of money. When I worked at Holiday Inn, it was the most important thing and we never knew what had happened to them.
“We think that with all the money they had, someone followed them and robbed them.”
Upon discovery, Mavromat said that perhaps the couple lost control of their car and fell into the lake.
Charles was officially declared dead in 1985, leaving his two children with an estate of $1.2 million.
Catherine’s nine grandchildren took the discovery to heart and reflected on their late grandmother.
People have thought for years about what could have happened. The discovery of the car has shed new light on the circumstances for the family members
The Florida Sonar team was looking for another car in the pond when they discovered the Lincoln
‘All the investigations, the psychics and all that, the police, they worked very hard, and the Blackwater divers have been searching for years. And they thought it was foul play,” said Christine Seaman Heller, Catherine’s granddaughter. ABC7.
Heller said he found some solace in the discovery and hopes to achieve some final closure.
‘I was talking about it yesterday with a friend of mine because it has always been a mystery. So it would be wonderful to find out, just have some peace. “You know, maybe it wasn’t a horrible ending, maybe it was just an accident,” he said.