Authorities in Illinois are searching for the driver of a car that mysteriously sank almost completely into a pond near Lake Zurich.
The mystery started on Sunday, June 29, when someone called Wauconda Fire District personnel to a pond on property owned by Mount St. Joseph, a non-profit intermediate care facility for women, near Route 12.
When crews arrived on the scene, they discovered a car that had veered off Route 12, passed through a fence, and entered the pond before coming to a stop about fifty feet offshore. The airbags had been activated and the car was flooded up to its windows, according to a Facebook post by the Wauconda Fire District.
An extensive search for the driver of the car came up empty
Two firefighters then went into the water and swam to the car to make sure there were no people inside after noticing that the driver’s-side window was open and the car appeared empty. Personnel from the Wauconda Fire District remained on site to assist the tow company in extracting the car from the water.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office then used a K-9 unit to search for whoever had been inside the car when it entered the pond. About a quarter of a mile north of the point where the car entered the pond, at the intersection of Route 12 and W. Valentine Court, the track came to a stop without finding the driver. A drone unit also found nothing.
Christopher Covelli, chief of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, stated that the hit-and-run incident happened between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
“Evidence at the scene indicates the occupants likely exited the pond and left the area on foot,” Covelli told the Lake & McHenry County Scanner.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. They are encouraging anyone with information about the accident or who may have observed something on Sunday night near Lake Zurich along Route 12 to come forward.