SMITHVILLE – Police have identified the owner of the 1970s era Mercury Cougar convertible found in Round Pond and know how it came to rest at the bottom of 26-acre body of water.
According to Lt. Richard Cobb of the Chenango County Sheriff’s Department, the vehicle was stolen from outside the Sportsman Inn in Smithville Flats in 1973 while its owner, Addison McLaud, was inside the bar.
The car, which has been identified as a 1973 model, is believed to have been submerged in the pond for nearly four decades until it was discovered by divers from the Broome County Sheriff’s Office during a training exercise on May 14 and pulled from its watery tomb.
Since its discovery, Cobb has worked to piece together the story of the car and how it came to rest at the bottom of the pond.
“It’s generated a few phone calls,” Cobb said of an article about the car which appeared in the May 17 edition of The Evening Sun.
From callers, the lieutenant was able to identify McLaud as the owner of the dark green convertible. While McLaud himself is deceased, he was able to track down the man’s daughter. She remembered the car being stolen, Cobb said, but was unable to provide further details.
He was able to find out more from the first hand accounts of two individuals who claimed to have been present on the night of the incident. One alleged that a local “kid” later confessed that he took the car on a joy ride, which ended in the pond.
According to Cobb, the caller remembered then-Sheriff Joseph Benenati sending divers to search Round Pond for the car.
“They were unable to see further than the hand in front of their face due to the murky water,” he explained, adding that another local man also sent divers in on two other occasions. He was told these searches also proved unsuccessful because of poor visibility in the pond, which measures 15 feet at its deepest point, according to the DEC.
Cobb has been unable to locate the 38-year old records pertaining to the incident and is unsure whether anyone was ever arrested for the crime.
“Requirements have changed over the years,” he explained, referring to how long records are kept.
While arrest records still exist from that era, they are filed by defendant, he explained. With no name to start from, and the original blotter records missing, searching these records would be an arduous, time consuming task.
Cobb said it is the first time he has had to look this far back in the records in his 13 years with the Sheriff’s Office.
The lieutenant has reached out to a couple of retired Sheriff’s officers who were on the job in 1973, but none had more than a vague recollection of the car theft. He has also contacted the New York State Police to see if they have a record of the incident.
“(They) are checking their records for me, but I’m not optimistic they will find anything either due to the age of the case,” Cobb said.
What will become of the vehicle itself? According to Cobb, under normal circumstances it would be property of the insurance company which held the policy. Since a carrier has not been identified, however, the wrecking company which pulled it from the water – in this case Roger’s Auto Body of Smithville Flats – can seek a salvage title.