These days, it's a bit difficult to imagine life without Google Maps. It is an application for almost daily use where millions of people look for how to move to a certain place and find valuable information about the context such as traffic, shops, street views, satellite views and others. But all those functions, sometimes, are used for something else, for example, to solve the disappearance of a man 20 years ago.
According to Unilad, a Google Maps user discovered in Google Maps satellite images a car submerged in a pond. Instead of letting the discovery pass — perhaps thinking that it was already known to the authorities — he decided to notify the police. Surprisingly, it had provided a piece of information that would help solve a mystery that had been without progress for more than two decades, the case of William Moldt, 40, who was reported missing on November 7, 1997 in Lantana, Florida .
That night, the individual left a nightclub and called his girlfriend to tell her that he was heading home. Tragically that never happened, prompting the police to launch an investigation into missing persons. However, with no clues that could help the case, Moldt's disappearance became authentic even after the car was found in the pond in 2019, since at that time it was not known why it ended up there.
Google Maps and two decades of mystery
The location of the car had changed radically in recent years. Even so, the authorities proceeded to remove the vehicle and after analyzing it, they determined that it had been submerged for a long time. In addition, they found the remains of a person. A week later, a forensic report confirmed that it was the body of William Moldt .
According to the Charley Project, an online database that collects data on unsolved cases in the United States, “the vehicle had been clearly visible on a Google Maps satellite photo of the area since 2007, but apparently no one had noticed it until 2019.” .
Authorities believe he lost control of his vehicle and ended up in the pond. Curiously, the initial investigation into his disappearance did not consider this hypothesis because “there was not enough evidence.” “You cannot determine what happened so many years ago,” said police spokeswoman Therese Barbera.
