116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids Fire Department discovers two vehicles in river
The origin of the vehicles is a mystery, but they’re not linked to any pending investigations
Sep. 12, 2023 5:11 pm, Updated: Sep. 13, 2023 4:18 am
The discovery of two vehicles found submerged in the Cedar River near the I Avenue boat ramp has produced more questions than answers, and will likely remain a mystery after the Johnson County Dive Team and the Cedar Rapids Fire Department were unable to remove them from the water Tuesday.
The vehicles were discovered about a month ago by fire department crews that were training on the river with recently updated sonar equipment. The sonar couldn’t provide a clear image of the vehicles, but it was obvious something large was under the water, said firefighter Cody Oberfoell, who works with the imaging tool.
“The technology every year with these units is increasing. Images are getting clearer. We just got this brand-new unit earlier this summer,” Oberfoell said. “We located what we thought was an unusual object. On further investigation we determined it was a vehicle.”
The fire department’s sonar technology is replaced and updated every five to seven years. It can sometimes be updated sooner if there are significant technological advances or opportunities to purchase at a discount from other departments. This upgrade was part of a regular replacement, according to the department.
After discovering the cars in the water, the fire department contacted the Johnson County Dive Team, which is made up of firefighters from local communities, including some from Cedar Rapids.
An extraction of the vehicles was planned for Aug. 22, but due to extreme heat that day it was delayed until Tuesday.
The team spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon Tuesday in the water, but was only able to retrieve pieces of both cars. Divers first went in the water — which is 9 to 15 feet deep in the area where the vehicles were located — around 9:30 a.m. The operation concluded around 2 p.m., after a rope being used to pull one of the cars broke.
Part of one of the vehicles that was pulled from the water showed that the car had vent or wing windows at the front, a feature that was common in cars built between the 1930s and 1970s, but had almost completely disappeared by the 1980s, according to a Los Angeles Times column.
The other vehicle, however, appeared to be a more recent model, with the bright red paint job still visible on the chunk of the car that was removed from the water.
The cars don’t match the profile of any currently pending investigations that local law enforcement are working on, according to the Cedar Rapids police and fire departments. If the cars are eventually removed from the river, law enforcement could then begin an investigation, starting with searching the car VIN numbers, to try to determine why they are in the river and whether they were reported stolen.
Information about when or if the fire department will try again to extract the cars was not available Tuesday.
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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