ORLANDO, Fla. (WKRC) — A family believes a set of human remains found near Disney World belongs to their relative, who had been missing for more than a decade.
Sandra Lemire, 47, went missing in May 2012 after going on a date with a man she met online, WESH reports. She was living with her grandmother in Orlando at the time.
The case went cold for 12 years until just a couple of weeks ago, when Orlando Police provided the last location of Sandra's cell phone.
Mike Sullivan runs a volunteer dive group that assists law enforcement called Sunshine State Sonar and said the group has been searching for Lemire for about 18 months. They searched 63 bodies of water, all without charging the family.
With the new information, Sunshine State Sonar was able to put together a map of possible locations.
On Saturday, they searched a retention pond along the highway near World Drive, outside the amusement park. They soon discovered a red minivan in the water.
A video the group posted to its Facebook page showed Sullivan resurfacing in the retention pond, pushing up his diving mask and pumping his fist in the air. "We got her! We got her!" he said.
Sullivan said he first matched the license plate to the one on the minivan that Lemire drove.
Crews were then able to pull the vehicle and a set of human remains from the water.
“Deep in my heart. I always thought this was a foul play case, and it turned out to be just a bad, terrible car accident,” Sullivan WESH. “I’m just so proud of our team.”
Police are still waiting for the medical examiner to positively identify the remains. The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the cause of the crash.
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Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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