Search for missing Pinellas County woman leads to discovery 1970s-era car submerged in Lake Tarpon Canal

OLDSMAR, Fla. - A pair searching for a woman who vanished from Pinellas County in 1995, discovered a submerged vehicle in Lake Tarpon Canal that may be linked to another missing persons case.  

The founders of Sunshine State Sonar, Mike Sullivan and John Martin, have been spending the last year and a half using high-tech sonar equipment on their boat, to search for vehicles linked to people who’ve never been found.

"When someone goes missing and their vehicle doesn’t show up, then five to ten years go by, you start thinking, is it possible the vehicle is underwater," said Mike Sullivan. "Usually, in missing person cases, the vehicle is abandoned in a parking lot, it’s found somewhere, when all that time goes by, that’s when we get involved."

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Over the weekend, the pair was trying to bring closure to the family of Brenda Starr Snouffer, a Pinellas County woman who vanished in 1995.

Brenda Snouffer was reported missing in 1995. This image is courtesy of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. 

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Brenda Snouffer was last seen on April 21, 1995, around 9:15 a.m. dropping her daughter off at Highland Lakes Elementary School.

Investigators say she never returned to the school to pick up her daughter. According to PCSO, Brenda Snouffer was involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with her husband, Scott Irving Snouffer. She was also scheduled to testify against Scott Snouffer at an upcoming criminal trial, according to investigators. Brenda Snouffer was last seen driving a turquoise blue 1993 Mazda Protégé, Florida tag LEA14U, which has never been recovered. 

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"We’re working a case from 1995, a woman that went missing right here in Pinellas County, so we’re searching all the waterways around her residence, and we’re searching waterways as far as ten miles away," Sullivan explained.

Sunshine State Sonar founders searching Lake Tarpon Canal. 

On Friday, their sonar picked up what looked like a vehicle about 15 feet deep in the canal, which is about 500 yards from where she lived in 1995, according to the Sunshine State Sonar’s Facebook page.

"At that time, we were assisted by Ken Flemming from ReCon Dive Recovery, who dove to the vehicle, to get us a description of the vehicle," said John Martin.

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They were looking for a Mazda, but it turned out to be a 1970s Chevy Vega.

"We thought it was the vehicle. It was the right size. Everything looked great on sonar. We were thinking this is it, we found her, and it wasn’t the car. You go from excitement to disappointment, like that. We are sitting there while that diver is down there, going come on, come on, come on, and then he comes up, it’s not the vehicle," the pair stated.

While searching Lake Tarpon Canal, Sunshine State Sonar founders discovered a 1970s-era Chevy Vega. 

They say not finding the Mazda was a bit of a letdown, but they are going to keep searching. Though uncertain, they hope discovering the Chevy Vega could bring answers to some other families who lost loved ones.

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According to Sunshine State Sonar’s Facebook page, there are twin sisters, Patty and Peggy McDaniel, missing from Broward County Florida that were last seen driving a Chevy Vega. The women have been missing since 1979. The pair says they are not implying that this is their vehicle or that this vehicle is related to that case. But, they have alerted authorities. 

Peggy and Patty McDaniel vanished from South Florida in 1979. Image is courtesy of the Charley Project. 

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office has been notified and tells Fox 13 that their dive team will do their own search at a later date and that the investigation is open.

Sullivan and Martin’s non-profit organization has helped solve four cases across Florida since January.

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