A woman vanished 27 years ago. A teenager and his GoPro led police to the bottom of a lake.
Morning Mix
A woman vanished 27 years ago. A teenager and his GoPro led police to the bottom of a lake.
A Honda Accord is pulled out of the water at Griffin Lake in British Columbia on Aug. 24. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
By Allyson Chiu
September 9, 2019 at 6:48 a.m. EDT
Max Werenka peered into the depths of Canadas Griffin Lake. From his perch on a paddle board, the 13-year-old could just make out the outline of a large rectangular object resting about 20 feet below the waters surface. ... You could see something almost like a shadow, like an imprint, Max told The Washington Post. Then, you could see something shiny.
The Canadian teen immediately deduced that the sun was reflecting off part of an exhaust pipe he was staring at the underside of a submerged car. ... Now, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police say Maxs find was the key to figuring out what happened to a woman who vanished 27 years ago, a missing-persons case that many feared would never be solved. ... The RCMP will probably be looking at this guy down the road for potential employment, Cpl. Thomas Blakney
told CTV News. Good detective work on his part.
....
A still image taken from a GoPro video of a car submerged in Griffin Lake in British Columbia. (Max Werenka/Courtesy of Max Werenka)
Several days later, on Aug. 24, the police returned, bringing along a tow truck and a dive team, according to a
news release. An older model Honda Accord was pulled out of the lake and inside, authorities made a grisly discovery a womans body. ... It was very shocking, Max said, noting that he had been curious about what happened to the driver when he saw the car emerge from the water with all its windows and doors shut. We were surprised. We werent expecting anything like this. ... Blakney told CTV News that divers were able to get the cars license plate and soon had a name: Janet Farris, a 69-year-old woman from Vancouver Island who went missing in the fall of 1992 while driving by herself to a wedding in Alberta.
....
Allyson Chiu is a reporter with The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. She has previously contributed to the South China Morning Post and the Pacific Daily News. Follow
https://twitter.com/@_allysonchiu