Greater Port Jeff coverage is funded in part by McIntyre, Donohue, Accardi, Salmonson & Riordan, LLP, representing New York’s injured workers for over 70 years.
A team of volunteer divers may have cracked a 15-year-old Long Island mystery Monday evening when they discovered a mucky, algae-covered PT Cruiser in the waters off Mount Sinai’s Cedar Beach — with what appeared to be human remains inside.
Suffolk County Police found more remains in the car and on Tuesday pulled the vehicle from the water.
Veteran 1010 WINS reporter Sophia Hall was on the scene and captured video of the slime-coated vehicle as it was hoisted from the murky depths by Suffolk County Police using a crane from Murphy’s Marine Services in Port Jefferson.
PT Cruiser brought back to land
Hall’s recording and video report are below:
Members of the group Adventures with Purpose — a dive team that travels the world looking for missing people — was scanning the water Monday using side-scan sonar near the Cedar Beach boat ramp when they picked up an underwater anomaly.
Divers went in and about 5 p.m. found the PT Cruiser, submerged and intact.
By 7:43 p.m., volunteer divers had brought what they believed to be a human bone to the surface and called 911.
The Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau responded, but poor water conditions forced them to suspend their dive about 9 p.m. On Tuesday, police recovered more remains from the vehicle.
Missing 62-year-old
As of Tuesday night, police had not officially identified the remains. The case has been turned over to the Suffolk County Homicide Squad. The Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner will determine the identity and cause of death.
Speculation is swirling that the vehicle may be tied to Robert Long, a man who at 62 went missing in December 2010 while on a run to a local liquor store. Police did not officially confirm any connection. Long is who the dive teams were searching for, Hall writes in her 1010 WINS report.
Greater Long Island will update this developing story as more information becomes available.
Top photo: Newsday TV video still in Cedar Beach.
