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Police: Remains in sunken car may be of missing Michigan man

Posted at 7:21 PM, Aug 22, 2017
and last updated 2017-08-22 19:21:07-04

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Police in Michigan believe humans remains found in a car at the bottom of a pond belong to someone who went missing decades ago.

Buena Vista Township Detective Sgt. Greg Klecker said the remains are likely those of Julius “Pete” Colwye, 62, who was last seen in nearby Saginaw in October 1984.

“The first day he didn’t come home when I was six, I knew something was wrong because that wasn’t normal,” said Marcel Colwye, 38, grandson of Pete Colwye.

Klecker told The Saginaw News the ruling is a “high probability,” citing forensic examinations of the skeletal remains and teeth.

Klecker said the examinations didn’t conclude a cause and manner of death. The investigation is ongoing under the label of a suspicious death.

Michigan Department of Transportation divers found what appeared to be a 1973-model Buick Electra 225 with human remains Aug. 15 at the bottom of a pond they needed to clear. Colwye owned the exact same model car, which went missing along with him.

Pete Colwye’s family said last week they saw the car involved on the news. Marcel Colwye said he alerted his mother who immediately went to the scene.

“She came to my job and when I saw her I knew something was wrong,” he said. “She told me they found the car and showed me the picture.”

The family is confident the remains are of Pete Colwye.

Marcel Colwye said the discovery of the remains brought a sense of relief to the family raising more questions.

“It’s bittersweet,” he said. “It’s good to know, but now that we know where he was at, we want to know how he got there. And when we find out how he got there, I want to know why.”