A 25-year-old Miami man’s body on Thursday was pulled from a lake near Dolphin Mall, ending a search that began when his car was found a day earlier in the water, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
A Saturn Ion involved in an accident was found by mall security personnel in about 3 feet of water Wednesday. But despite using an aircraft for a bird’s eye view of the lake, authorities found no immediate sign of its driver, Benjamin Rodriguez, the agency said.
Man Made More Than 1,200 911 Calls: Cops
Thursday, Rodriguez hadn’t returned home and a trooper returned to the lake. Miami-Dade divers were requested to scour the lake and found the body, the agency said.
Police Release Video in Canadian Couple's Murder
The Highway Patrol determined Rodriguez had been driving on the exit ramp from Florida’s Turnpike Extension onto Northwest 12th Street, when his car went across a median curb, entrance ramp lanes and grass embankment before going under a fence and into the lake, the agency said.
Dade Officials Head to Texas to Help in Fugitive Search
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
