For the most part, Google Maps is just a decent way of figuring out how to get from one place to another in an area you're not so familiar with. If you're bored, sure, maybe you have a look to see what sorts of things the Google car might have picked up in your neighborhood.
Google Maps
Body Of Man Missing Since 1997 Found Using Google Maps
Google's satellites pick up some particularly illuminating images as well.
Yes, there have been some hilarious gems, but there have also been some disturbing images found by eagle-eyed users.
One such image has actually solved a cold case.
William Earl Moldt, 40, went missing 22 years ago. Thanks to Google Maps, he's finally been found.
Google Maps
Homeowner Barry Fay of Wellington, Florida was in disbelief when a neighbor tried to tell him that there was a car in his backyard. "Why? Where? There's no car behind my house," he said, according to The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
He did have a giant pond back there, however
Unsplash | Jared Brashier
The murky depths of the pond, it turns out, had been hiding a secret for more than two decades. Just to confirm the Google images, Fay enlisted another neighbor's help to get a better look.
They flew a hobby drone out over the pond, and before long Fay was on the phone to the police to get them to come check out the car.
Google Maps
He also called the home's former owner to find out if she had ever noticed anything. "She was shocked," Fay said.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office sent out a team to investigate.
Facebook | PBSO - Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
"Upon arrival deputies confirmed there was a vehicle in the pond," the PBSO said in a statement. "The vehicle’s exterior was heavily calcified and was obviously in the water for a significant amount of time. Upon removing the vehicle skeleton remains were found inside."
From the Google Maps photo, you can just make out the outline of a white car below the surface.
Google Maps
It's still not exactly clear what happened to Moldt, but the Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed that his remains were indeed behind the wheel of the 1994 Saturn.
The last anyone knew of him, he called his girlfriend around 9:30 pm the night of Nov. 7, 1997, to say he was headed home from a nightclub.
Unsplash | Eilis Garvey
Reports suggest that although he had had a few drinks at the nightclub, he didn't appear to be intoxicated when he left, and he wasn't known to be a heavy drinker.
Over 22 years, nobody noticed that a car was submerged in that pond.
The Charley Project
At the time Moldt disappeared, the residential area he was found in was under construction, according to The Charley Project. The car had even been visible on Google Maps since at least 2007, but nobody had noticed it there, either.
Florida has seen numerous cars discovered in its waterways.
Unsplash | Matt Popovich
When the Boca Rio canal was lowered in preparation for a hurricane in 2017, six cars were found, one of which contained the remains of a woman who had disappeared a year earlier.
Between 2011 and 2016, the state saw 168 water-related deaths from car accidents, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
Facebook | PBSO - Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
Bad drivers and alcohol were cited in about a quarter of those cases, and Palm Beach County saw the most of those cases in South Florida with 29. Analysis has shown that cases like this tend to happen most often on clear, dry days on rural roads.
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