A 43-year-old missing person case may have been resolved after a New Hampshire diving team found human remains and a submerged car in a river, authorities said.
State Police said they believe the vehicle may belong to Alberta Leeman, who disappeared on July 26, 1978. Her disappearance is not considered suspicious and an investigation is ongoing, according to a police statement posted on Facebook.
Alberta Leeman, who went missing on July 26, 1978.New Hampshire State Police
“The circumstances under which the vehicle landed in the Connecticut River are being investigated by the New Hampshire State Police in cooperation with the Vermont State Police,” the authorities said. “According to the investigation so far, there does not appear to be any danger to the public in connection with this incident.”
The state’s Fish and Game Department said one of their officials, Joe Canfield, was interested in Leeman’s case and used scheduled sonar training sessions to search areas he believed Leeman may have disappeared.
During a recent training session, the sonar team found a vehicle that appeared to have sunk in the Connecticut River in Lancaster, the department said in a press release. A search was conducted on Thursday and the team was able to identify the license plate on the vehicle, which matched Leeman’s missing Pontiac.
Fish and game officers search the Connecticut River in Lancaster, NHNH fish and game / Facebook
Officials believe the car has been under water since July 1978. The remains have not yet been clearly identified.
Leeman was 63 when she went missing. Her family told the New Hampshire union leader that they left everything at home, including her purse. A cup of coffee stayed on the table, they said.
The family gathered on the riverbank on Friday when a diving team searched the overturned vehicle. “You never give up,” Leeman’s daughter Nancy McLain told the newspaper.
