PALM HARBOR, Fla. (WFLA) — A vehicle with human skeletal remains was found in Palm Harbor Friday, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
A spokesperson with the sheriff’s office confirmed that detectives found the vehicle off of Old Oak Circle at around 7 a.m.
The detectives were assisted by the Sunshine State Sonar dive team, who recently assisted with the recovery of a missing teacher’s vehicle in Volusia County last week.
“The vehicle has been removed from the pond, and human bones were located inside the vehicle,” the spokesperson said.
The vehicle as it was pulled out of the pond at about 9:30 a.m. (Credit: Rick Gottlieb) 
The vehicle as it was pulled out of the pond at about 9:30 a.m. (Credit: Rick Gottlieb) 
The vehicle as it was pulled out of the pond at about 9:30 a.m. (Credit: Rick Gottlieb) 
The vehicle as it was pulled out of the pond at about 9:30 a.m. (Credit: Rick Gottlieb)
The Medical Examiner’s Office will work to identify the remains and the official cause of death.
According to volunteers and an eyewitness, the vehicle appears to be linked to the 2006 disappearance of Robert Helphrey.
The night of his disappearance, Helphrey said he was going to a friend’s house but never arrived. His car was never found, until this Thursday.
“When the vehicle doesn’t show up and a decade goes by, two decades go by, you know when something happens to someone, usually the vehicle is found abandoned and when that vehicle is not found, there is always that speculation that maybe that vehicle is underwater,” said Michael Sullivan with Sunshine State Sonar.
That is when the volunteers like Sunshine State Sonar use their skills to help locate the missing.
”This is the third case that we’ve solved since Jan. 6,” Sullivan said. “January 6 we solved the Karen Moore Case. That was a 22-year cold case. Last week we solved Robert Heikka, the missing school teacher from Port Orange, and now yesterday we just solved Robert Helphrey.”
They use side scan sonar to help locate missing cars, but even when they find objects in ponds and lakes, sometimes the only way to confirm an object that shows up on their screen is a car is to go diving.
“We look for square shapes, we look for, that look like vehicles, rectangular,” said Ken Fleming with Recon Dive Recovery. “We look for windows and voids and things like that.
”I felt that flat roof, with rounded edges, that’s a car.”
The men are helping families with relatives who have been missing for a long time, but say they don’t like to use the word closure.
”We don’t like that word, closure, we usually say answers, because there is never closure when you lose a loved one like this,” Sullivan said. “It’s answers to where their loved one has been.”
Resident Rick Gottlieb told 8 On Your Side that residents called deputies when they saw rescue divers in the pond without permission. He also said Helphrey’s family was at the scene.
