Authorities are investigating after a body was found in a car that was discovered submerged in a canal in west Miami-Dade Thursday.
The car was found in the area of Okeechobee Road and 154th Avenue by South Florida Water Management workers who were cleaning the canal, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.
“We bring boats in to clean the canal and if we happen to find a car in the water, we turn it into Miami-Dade Underwater Recovery and they pull them out,” said Wes Fight, crew chief for the SFWMD.
The workers discovered an upside down Honda Pilot SUV. It was pulled from the water Thursday evening and FHP troopers found the body of a man inside. FHP said the car matches a missing person case from two weeks ago in Hialeah.
“During the investigation with other agencies, we do have information of a person missing from Hialeah that was reported last seen by a family member on 1/9 and reported missing on 1/16,” said FHP trooper Joe Sanchez.
The back end of the Honda SUV was smashed up and Sanchez said it may have been involved in an accident before it went in the canal. The vehicle was loaded onto a flatbed truck Thursday and taken to the medical examiner’s office for identification on the body.
“We have to put this puzzle together. It’s one piece,” Sanchez said. “Then put together through several pieces we’ll be able to identify exactly what happened.”
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This is the second car discovered in a canal with a body inside. Last week another SFWMD crew found a car in a canal in Sunrise that ended up being linked to a cold case involving a missing teenage girl and her boyfriend from 1978. Remains found near that car are still being examined by forensic analysts.
