The Broward Sheriff’s Office’s dive team was simply going through training Wednesday when a discovery re-opened an investigation and ended months of agonizing for Kathleen Platt.
Divers were performing a training exercise in the canal in the 3200 block of N. Palm Aire Drive when they came across a car with a body in side.
"They just literally made contact with it, ran right into it, completely blind," said BSO spokeswoman Gina Carter. "You can see nothing in the water, so it was really just a lucky break that they were able to find the car."
The skeletal remains found inside the car have not been identified, but investigators said the car was registered to 56-year-old Charlene Azzaro, who had been reported missing in 2013. Azzaro was homeless and detectives said she lived in her car.
The woman's twin sister, Kathleen Platt, said she is sure that the remains belong to her sister.
“I just knew in my heart, we never went a day without talking,” Platt said. “I knew something bad happened. I knew.”
Investigators were able to pull the car out of the canal and are currently working to make a positive identification on the remains. For Kathleen, it’s the second-straight heartbreak as she just buried her son, who died of a heart attack, two weeks ago.
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“He kept saying, ‘Mom, we’ll find her,’” Platt said of her son. “So the detective came to the door today and I said, ‘It’s bad isn’t it.’ And there I am sitting there, ready to try and write thank you card. She’s in heaven with God, with my son. It’s been one thing after another.”
Investigators said the last time Azzaro was seen was on August 13, 2013 when she left her sister’s house, about a half-mile from where the car was discovered in the canal.
