Over 100 cars are submerged under the bayous of Houston, Texas, according to recently released sonar images taken by a nonprofit that helps with missing person cases.
Some of the 127 sunken cars found in the Sims, Braes and Buffalo Bayous may contain the bodies of people that have gone missing or have been murdered, the nonprofit Texas Equusearch told the Houston Chronicle.
"How many could be an Alzheimer's victim or a guy that was drunk-driving off the road or how many could be homicide?" Equusearch founder Tim Miller told the newspaper. "I guarantee there's going to be bodies in some of these cars."
The organization came across the cars while aiding the Houston Police Department in a search for an elderly woman that went missing in October 2011. But when the nonprofit told the HPD about their findings, they were told to keep quiet because the city did not have the funds to investigate the sunken cars, Miller told the Houston Chronicle.
"I went to the detective and said, we got a problem," Miller said. "We've found all these cars. He said 'You need to shut up, the city doesn't have the money and the public will go crazy about this.' "
HPD spokesman Victor Senties said they did investigate two of the "most promising leads" but nothing turned up and the vehicles were ruled too old to be recovered, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Senties also said some of the cars are in inaccessible areas and that the cars would fall apart if they attempted to move them. Furthermore, the police don't think the cars contain bodies, the newspaper reported.
The car and body of the elderly woman who went missing, Lillian High, was recovered by police divers in 2012.
Miller said the nonprofit has the equipment needed to safely recover the cars. He plans to present his proposal to the city council this week. He did not specify how much the endeavor would cost.
"Houston is known as the Bayou City, I know millions of dollars are spent on the banks of the bayous to make it beautiful, but we've got a big problem that's underneath the water," Miller told the newspaper.
