Google Earth may have led to the discovery of a man who has been missing since 1997

(Newser)
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On November 7, 1997, William Earl Moldt called his girlfriend around 11:30 pm to tell him that he was returning home after a nightclub. The 40-year-old Florida man never returned home and for nearly 22 years his whereabouts remained a mystery. But that changed last month, perhaps thanks to Google Earth. MPs were summoned to the Palm Beach County Retention Pool on August 28 following the discovery of a submerged vehicle; Inside the car, there were skeletal remains that, according to the sheriff's office, were identified as being Moldt on Tuesday. According to Project Charley, who keeps an online list of people missing for at least a year, someone has seen the car on Google Earth.

"Surprisingly, a vehicle was clearly visible on a Google Earth satellite photo of the region since 2007, but no one noticed it until 2019, when a real estate expert saw the car while looking at Google Earth," explains the website. has a picture of the satellite photo of Google Earth. He notes that the real estate complex in which the pond is located was under construction when Moldt disappeared. the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports that the sheriff's office has not confirmed the history of Google Earth, stating only that a resident has found the car; speak Palm Beach Postit was in a pond behind his house. (Read more stories of missing people.)