Robert Heikka, a teacher in Florida in the United States, who was declared missing in 2020 has been found dead inside a submerged car in a canal along Pioneer Trail near New Smyrna Beach.
The authorities said Heikka’s lifeless body was discovered on Saturday in his Chevrolet Impala car, according to the New York Post.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said the dive team then pulled the car from the canal.
The nonprofit Sunshine State Sonar Search Team and Recon Dive Recovery members spotted the car after a recent and significant drop in the canal’s water level and confirmed the tag, officials said.
“While positive ID has not officially been made, the Port Orange Police Department has been in contact with Mr Heikka’s family,” the sheriff’s office said. “Our thoughts go out to the Heikka family and friends this evening.”
He said the body is believed to be Robert Heikka, who went missing in 2020.
On October 26, 2020, Heikka never showed up for work at Creekside Middle School in Port Orange, where he taught since 2002.
Heikka, then 70 years old, was reported missing and multiple agencies, including the FBI, have since been searching for the missing teacher.
Neighbours have told investigators that they last saw the teacher leaving his home the morning of October 24, 2020, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.
Bank records revealed that he had made an ordinary transaction at an ATM in nearby Brevard County, the report said.
The Pioneer Trail where Heikka’s vehicle was found is near the South Tomoka Wildlife Management Area, about six miles from the missing teacher’s Port Orange neighbourhood.
No further details about the body recovered from the vehicle were immediately available.
