Miami

2 Bodies Found in Submerged Car Belonging to Missing Couple: Miami-Dade Police

Police are investigating after the bodies of two people were discovered when a vehicle belonging to a missing couple was found in water in a remote area of southwest Miami-Dade Thursday morning.

The discovery was made in the area of Southwest 268th Street and Southwest 111th Avenue, Miami-Dade Police said.

Footage showed about a dozen officers at the scene, including a dive team and multiple crime scene vans. A guardrail was damaged and debris, including car parts, were laying on the ground.

The bodies haven't been identified but there has been an ongoing search for 21-year-olds Alexandra Picon and Brandon Arana since they vanished Sunday morning.

Aerial footage showed the license plate on the submerged Toyota Corolla matched the tag on the vehicle that was driven by Picon and Arana.

In a Facebook post Thursday afternoon, Picon's aunt said the bodies in the car are her niece and Arana.

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I regret to inform you that Alexandra Picón And Brandon Arana unfortunately have been found deceased in a lake in south... Posted by Martha Picon on Thursday, February 4, 2016

"We don't have any details of how the car ended in the water or anything else," Picon family member Susy Rivero-Ayala said at the scene Thursday. "[The family is] devastated, it hasn't been confirmed but they're devastated."

Detectives said the couple, who were last seen leaving the Cadillac Ranch at Town & Country Mall, had left together in a red 2014 Toyota Corolla (AGG-I88). The vehicle's SunPass account registered them passing the Kendall Toll Plaza headed southbound on the Florida Turnpike.

"The vehicle is a red Toyota Corolla and it does have two deceased people inside," Miami-Dade Police spokeswoman Jennifer Capote said. "The investigators have identified this vehicle to be the same in which Brandon Arana and Alexandra Picon were last seen on Sunday morning when they were reported missing."

The bodies were taken to the medical examiner's office for identification. It's unknown how long that will take.

Police are investigating how the car ended up in the water but said it appears to have been a traffic crash.

Check back with NBC 6 for updates.

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