A teenage boy who found a submerged car in a lake has helped Royal Canadian Mounted Police solve a 27-year-old missing person’s case.
Max Werenka, 13, is being credited with helping the Mounties find the body of 69-year-old Janet Farris, who was reported missing in 1992 in British Columbia.
“I always like to question things,” Werenka, of Sherwood Park, Alberta, told CTV News.
Late last month, Max took two Mounties out on Lake Griffin to the spot where he found the vehicle but they couldn’t see anything, CBC News reported.
As a result, the teenage boy dove into the lake and recorded video of the car on his GoPro, which he then showed to the officers.
Subsequently, a Mounties dive team recovered the vehicle, an older model Honda Accord, and recovered Farris’ remains.
Farris disappeared driving to a wedding in Alberta, CBC News reported.
Police believe Farris ended up in the lake after swerving to avoid an animal or losing control of the Honda for some other reason, according to the news outlet. Investigators do not believe a crime was involved in her disappearance.
Yet the lake hid the car from view for 27 years, preventing authorities from solving the mystery, until now.
“I think the worst thing was not knowing,” her son, George Farris, 62, told CBC News.
“We kind of assumed that maybe she had gone off the road or fallen asleep, or tried to avoid an accident or animal on the road,” he said.
Farris said with the discovery there was a relief.
“Given a sad situation, it’s the best of all outcomes,” he said.
