YouTube group helps find body that may have been in Polk pond 10 months – Tampa Bay Times

LAKELAND — A YouTube group that searches for vehicles in water located a car belonging to a woman reported missing 10 months ago and divers found a body inside, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.The group Adventures With Purpose had been contacted by the family of Margaret “Jan” Smith, 59, who was reported missing April 2. Members found her 2012 Kia Soul on Wednesday in a pond near the Hunter’s Crossing subdivision, northeast of Interstate 4 and U.S. 98, the Sheriff’s Office said.“This was a tragic accident, and our prayers are with the family,” SAheriff Grady Judd said in a news release. “We’re grateful for Adventures with Purpose working with us in locating the vehicle.”The group had searched a number of ponds in the area already but made one last attempt after learning from the Sheriff’s Office that Smith had been involved in a minor crash at Socrum Loop Road North and Old Polk City Road in Lakeland the night she disappeared.The Kia was found at the bottom of a seven-foot-deep pond.The sheriff’s Underwater Search and Recovery Team pulled the vehicle from the pond, and a female body was discovered inside. The Sheriff’s Office is still working to confirm her…
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