Bones, mood ring found in car
dredged from W. T. Ellis Lake
MARYSVILLE 10/22/02 - The skeleton found in a car that may have lain submerged on the shallow bottom of busy Lake Ellis for nearly two decades was that of a woman, authorities reported Tuesday.
A Yuba County Sheriff's Department diving team unexpectedly discovered the decayed hulk of a 1980 Ford Thunderbird Sunday while helping city police recover a recently stolen Chevy Blazer that had been dumped in the lake between the paddle boat dock and the fountain island near 10th and B streets.
When the slime- and mud-covered Thunderbird was out of the six-foot-deep lake, police found a second surprise inside.
"I used my flashlight and looked inside the Ford via the hole in the windshield and. I saw what appeared to be a skull and lower jawbone sitting on the real passenger seat," Police Officer Christian Sachs reported.
An initial examination of the blackened bones Tuesday indicated the victim was female, her height and age could not be estimated without further study, Yuba County Sheriff Virginia Black said.
Everything else about the lady and the light-blue T-Bird remain a question mark, according to Black.
The vehicle was built in 1980 at a Ford assembly plant in Los Angeles, according to the vehicle's identification number, but the license plates were so disintegrated the state it was registered in is not known.
Lake Ellis is a 25-acre park located where state Highways 20 and 70 meet in downtown Marysville, and an estimated 29,000 vehicles from states far and wide pass by daily, City Services Director David Lamon.
Archivists at the state Department of Motor Vehicles are trying to find out where the Thunderbird may have been registered and who the owner was, Black said.
There was some evidence that the vehicle was last registered in 1984 and investigators are currently theorizing that may be the year the T-Bird went into the water, Black said.
One scrap of evidence offers hope of identifying the victim. "We have a partial piece of identification that may help," Black said.
The only other bit of physical evidence found with the woman was a "mood ring" - an item of early '80s fad jewelry that supports the timing of the crash, Black said.
The vehicle's position in the lake suggests that it was westbound on 10th Street when it crossed B Street and entered the water.
"We think she came down 10th, crossed B Street and jetted into the lake," Black said.
How the Thunderbird with the lady inside could have gone unnoticed for 18 or so years was one of the biggest mysteries.
The lake also hosts annual fishing contests, cardboard boat races, jet ski and speedboat races, which attract thousands of people. The city's Fourth of July fireworks display draws a crowd of 20,000 spectators alone, and anywhere from 100 to 200 paddle-boaters and pedestrians use the lake, Lamon estimated.
"Maybe it was the light blue color of the roof that people couldn't see," Black said.
dredged from W. T. Ellis Lake
MARYSVILLE 10/22/02 - The skeleton found in a car that may have lain submerged on the shallow bottom of busy Lake Ellis for nearly two decades was that of a woman, authorities reported Tuesday.
A Yuba County Sheriff's Department diving team unexpectedly discovered the decayed hulk of a 1980 Ford Thunderbird Sunday while helping city police recover a recently stolen Chevy Blazer that had been dumped in the lake between the paddle boat dock and the fountain island near 10th and B streets.
When the slime- and mud-covered Thunderbird was out of the six-foot-deep lake, police found a second surprise inside.
"I used my flashlight and looked inside the Ford via the hole in the windshield and. I saw what appeared to be a skull and lower jawbone sitting on the real passenger seat," Police Officer Christian Sachs reported.
An initial examination of the blackened bones Tuesday indicated the victim was female, her height and age could not be estimated without further study, Yuba County Sheriff Virginia Black said.
Everything else about the lady and the light-blue T-Bird remain a question mark, according to Black.
The vehicle was built in 1980 at a Ford assembly plant in Los Angeles, according to the vehicle's identification number, but the license plates were so disintegrated the state it was registered in is not known.
Lake Ellis is a 25-acre park located where state Highways 20 and 70 meet in downtown Marysville, and an estimated 29,000 vehicles from states far and wide pass by daily, City Services Director David Lamon.
Archivists at the state Department of Motor Vehicles are trying to find out where the Thunderbird may have been registered and who the owner was, Black said.
There was some evidence that the vehicle was last registered in 1984 and investigators are currently theorizing that may be the year the T-Bird went into the water, Black said.
One scrap of evidence offers hope of identifying the victim. "We have a partial piece of identification that may help," Black said.
The only other bit of physical evidence found with the woman was a "mood ring" - an item of early '80s fad jewelry that supports the timing of the crash, Black said.
The vehicle's position in the lake suggests that it was westbound on 10th Street when it crossed B Street and entered the water.
"We think she came down 10th, crossed B Street and jetted into the lake," Black said.
How the Thunderbird with the lady inside could have gone unnoticed for 18 or so years was one of the biggest mysteries.
The lake also hosts annual fishing contests, cardboard boat races, jet ski and speedboat races, which attract thousands of people. The city's Fourth of July fireworks display draws a crowd of 20,000 spectators alone, and anywhere from 100 to 200 paddle-boaters and pedestrians use the lake, Lamon estimated.
"Maybe it was the light blue color of the roof that people couldn't see," Black said.
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