HOUSTON – A team of Texas Equusearch volunteers located and filmed three sunken cars in Brays Bayou over the weekend.
"We knew where they were because of the sonar, it was just a question of getting the dive team into place," said Tim Miller, with Texas EquuSearch.
As Local 2 Investigates first reported last week, Miller's team two years ago pinpointed the location of 127 sunken cars and trucks in three Houston bayous: Brays, Sims and Buffalo.
Not far from the Gulf Freeway and South Wayside, a professional diver with a company called Legacy Offshore found a Ford Taurus sedan largely intact.
"It had definitely been in some sort of a collision, probably when it rolled off the hill there," diver Anthony Sick said.
Some of the windows of the car were broken and the license plates were missing. The car came to rest 18 feet under the surface on its tires.
Two other cars discovered in only six feet of water in Brays Bayou on Saturday near the Lidstone street overpass were in significantly worse shape.
"One of them was sitting on the side so two of the doors were facing up and two of the doors were buried on the side," diver Sean Kries said.
He says it would be difficult to bring those vehicles to the surface.
Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland last week said he is not in favor of lifting the cars out of Houston bayous and there is a low probability of solving missing persons cases by retrieving the vehicles.
"I certainly don't support somebody undertaking an endeavor like this and then my dive team may have to recover you," McClelland said.
Miller said he is trying to lobby support within the city, but so far hasn't found a backer.
"We could do this at no cost to the city. I've got companies that want to donate their services," Miller said.
Texas Equusearch depends on donations to stay afloat. Click here to learn more about the organization.
