Breakthrough in 44-year-old disappearance of oil exec and his wife

by · Mail Online

An abandoned car and human remains at the bottom of a Georgia pond have been linked to the 44-year-old case of a missing oil executive and his wife. 

Retired Sinclair Oil executive Charles Romer, 73, and his wife Catherine, 75, shockingly disappeared in 1980.

Charles and Catherine were longtime friends who got married in 1974. They were on their way home to Scarsdale, New York from Miami, Florida before they vanished. 

They stopped along their route at a Holiday Inn in Brunswick, Georgia - which was one of the last places the lavish couple was seen. 

Hotel staffers raised alarms and reported the Romers missing when they noticed their bed had not been slept in. 

Employees found unpacked bags, tax returns and a bottle of scotch inside the vacant room, the New York Times reported.  

Their black custom model 1979 Lincoln Continental was also nowhere to be found.

Catherine was wearing $81,000 in jewelry when she disappeared with her husband, according to the Associated Press. 

Catherine and Charles Romer went missing in 1980 while stopping in Georgia on their way home from Miami 
Catherine was reportedly wearing $81,000 in jewelry when the couple vanished 
A car submerged in a Georgia pond with a human bone inside had been linked to the Romer's cold case 

But on Friday, the decades old dead-end case was resurfaced when a Florida Sound Navigation and Ranging (Sonar) search team found a car believed to be theirs submerged in a pond off of the Interstate 95 in Brunswick.

A Glynn County Police Department spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday: 'Ultimately a match must be determined by the VIN number and it has not been possible yet to get that from the vehicle found in the pond.'

The team made the discovery around 10 am, according to a Facebook statement from the Sunshine State Sonar. 

The statement reads: 'We initially visited this location based on a tip regarding a submerged vehicle, which was subsequently identified as a 1970s Ford sedan. 

'Further investigation led to the discovery of an additional vehicle, ultimately determined to be the vehicle belonging to Charles and Catherine Romer. 

'We promptly notified the Glynn County Police Detectives of the discovery, including the 1970s Ford sedan.'

Taking a deeper look, one human bone was found inside of the car. But according to the Sunshine State Sonar team, the DNA results are pending.

In other words, it is not confirmed if they belong to Catherine or Charles. 

The Glynn County Police Department also addressed the situation in a Facebook release, revealing there will be a search for more remains.

Charles and Catherine's disappearances have baffled family members and investigators for decades 
The couple drove a black custom model 1979 Lincoln Continental, which resembled the car dug up on Friday
The couple got married in 1974 - just six years before they were last seen - after being longtime friends

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'At this time there is no conclusion about the identity of the remains that were found,' the department wrote.

'The pond is being drained and special equipment is being utilized to allow for a thorough investigation by GCPD and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.'

Although no solid conclusion has been drawn about the circumstances surrounding the vanished wealthy couple, investigators, Brunswick locals and family members have speculated over the years.

'We all felt with our experience that these people had been kidnapped and killed for her jewelry, and the vehicle and the bodies were hidden in the water,' rescue diver George Baker, who searched for the car over the years, told the AP in 1998.

Former Holiday Inn employee Andy Mavromat told Action News Jax: 'He was in the oil industry; he was worth a bunch of money. When I worked at Holiday Inn, it was the big thing, and we never knew happened to them. 

'We figured with all the money they had, someone followed them and robbed them.'

Given the recent discovery, Mavromat also said that maybe the couple lost control of their car and fell into the lake.  

In 1985, Charles was officially declared dead, leaving his two sons with a $1.2 million estate, the New York Times reported at the time. 

Catherine's nine grandchildren have taken the discovery to heart and reflected on their late grandmother.

People have thought about what may have happened for years. The car's discovery has shed new light on the circumstances for family members 
The Sonar team from Florida was searching the pond for another car when they discovered the Lincoln 

'All the investigations and psychics and everything, the police, they worked so hard, and Blackwater divers have been searching for years. And they thought it was foul play,' Christine Seaman Heller, Catherine's granddaughter, told ABC7.

Seaman Heller revealed she found some comfort in the discovery and is hoping to gain some final closure.

She told ABC 7: 'I was talking about it yesterday with a friend of mine because it's always been such a mystery. So, it would be so wonderful to find out, just have some peace. You know maybe it wasn't a horrible ending, maybe it was just an accident.'