A 13-year-old boy from Canada is being credited with cracking a missing person case from 1992. Max Werenka was out on Griffin Lake in British Columbia with his family when he noticed what he thought was a car sitting at the bottom of the lake about ten feet from a nearby roadway. His family figured the car was from an accident in 2009 when a vehicle crashed into the lake and told a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) about their find.
They learned that the car from the 2009 accident had previously been removed from the water so they took the Mounties to the location where they found the submerged car. Max grabbed his GoPro and dove into the water, recording video and taking a few photos of the muck-covered vehicle. A few days later, a dive team went to investigate the car and found a body in it.
"When we initially heard someone was in that vehicle, my heart just sank," Max's mother, Nancy, told CTV News.
Authorities were able to find the license plate and used it to identify the driver as 69-year-old Janet Farris from Vancouver Island. Farris went missing 27 years ago and her family had no idea what happened.
"After the first year, you just carry on," Janet's son, George, said. "You come to live with it."
The family now has closure about what happened in 1992 and can thank the keen eyes of Max. The RCMP praised Max for his detective work and suggested that he might have a future career in law enforcement.
"The RCMP will probably be looking at this guy down the road for potential employment," Cpl. Thomas Blakney said.
Officials do not believe that Ferris' death is suspicious but are inspecting her 1980 Honda for clues about how she ended up in the lake.
Photo: RCMP