Police: No remains in car buried behind California mansion

ATHERTON, Calif. (AP) — Crews totally excavated a automobile that police mentioned was buried within the yard of a Northern California mansion 30 years in the past and located no human stays, authorities mentioned Monday.

The convertible Mercedes Benz full of luggage of unused concrete was found final week by landscapers within the prosperous city of Atherton in Silicon Valley. Cadaver canines dropped at the scene made “slight” notifications of doable human stays on three separate events, police mentioned in a press release.

The automobile was faraway from the house by a tow truck and transported Saturday to the San Mateo County Crime Lab for additional inspection and processing. On Sunday, floor penetrating radar was used to look at the scene, the division mentioned.

“This examination didn’t reveal something uncommon or suspicious on the scene and no human stays had been situated,” it mentioned.

“This concluded our on-scene investigation,” the division added.

Police haven’t mentioned who owned the automobile, which was reported stolen in close by Palo Alto in September 1992, or who may need buried it within the yard of the sprawling mansion. Police mentioned Monday that they had no additional remark.

Investigators consider the automobile was buried 4 to five toes (1.2 to 1.5 meters) deep within the house’s yard someday within the Nineties — earlier than the present homeowners purchased the house.

Atherton police mentioned the doable proprietor of the automobile is believed to be deceased however officers had been ready for DMV information to substantiate that.

Authorities wouldn’t say if investigators consider the car was registered to Johnny Lew, who constructed the house and lived there together with his household within the Nineties. Lew had a historical past of arrests for homicide, tried homicide and insurance coverage fraud,

KRON-TV reported Monday that the automobile has a personalised license plate that features “Lew.”

Lew died in Washington state in 2015, a yr after the household bought the home, his daughter, Jacq Searle, informed the San Francisco Chronicle.

Lew was arrested within the late Nineties for insurance coverage fraud after he employed undercover cops to take a $1.2 million yacht “out west of the Golden Gate Bridge into worldwide waters and put it on the underside,” the newspaper reported.

Within the Sixties, Lew was discovered responsible of murdering a 21-year-old lady in Los Angeles County. He was launched from jail after the California Supreme Courtroom reversed the conviction in 1968, citing rumour proof that ought to not have been allowed at trial. Data confirmed that in 1977 Lew was convicted of two counts of tried homicide, additionally in Los Angeles County, and spent three years in jail, the Chronicle reported, citing courtroom information.

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