BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A New York family spent 44 years looking for answers into a couple’s disappearance, and a discovery in Brunswick may finally bring them some.
The Glynn County Police Department is searching a car found at the bottom of a pond for traces of Charles and Catherine Romer, who were last seen checking into a Brunswick hotel in 1980.
Catherine Romer’s granddaughter, Christine Seaman, says she’s spent 44 years wondering what happened to her grandmother.
“She was one of those people, a larger-than-life personality," said Seaman. "Since there’s nine of us, she made us all feel special.”
Seaman was 15 years old when she saw her grandmother before she left with her husband Charles to spend the winter of 1980 in Miami.
The Romers were heading home to New York when they checked into a hotel off I-95 in Brunswick and never checked out.
“We just waited and waited for answers," said Seaman. "Every day, people would ask us if we had any news.”
Those days turned into years, as 44 of them went by without a significant development.
Until a dive team out of Florida found a car at the bottom of the pond next to the hotel.
Despite all the rust and decay, Seaman could tell it looked familiar.
“It was hard to see the car we used to see in our driveway all the time," said Seaman. "I mean, I know it’s all tattered and rusted and falling apart, but just a shock.”
Glynn County Police Spokesperson Lawton Dodd said investigators are deciding the best way to preserve the car while looking for evidence linking it to the Romers.
“It is so deteriorated, they’re afraid they can’t remove it without destroying whatever is left," said Dodd.
They did find a bone, which has been sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“They’re forensics experts are going to be analyzing the bone and trying to determine if there’s usable DNA, then that’s going to be compared with a family member of the Romers to see if indeed it is a match," said Dodd.
Dodd says it could be weeks, if not months, before any DNA matches come through, but that’s a short time by comparison for a family that’s already had to wait 44 years.
“It’s definitely a Thanksgiving we’ll have a lot to be thankful for.”
Seaman says she'd be willing to share her DNA if it helps with the investigation.
First Coast News asked Dodd if investigators found anything other than the bone to this point now that the car isn’t underwater, but he said he can’t release anything else just yet.