March 7, 2015
We were recently witnesses to the end of a very sad story that played out here in our marina. The body of a woman, who had been missing for a month, was discovered in her car, under water at the base of the marina’s boat ramp.
The woman, a well known local piano teacher, was last seen leaving an evening concert in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. A month long search for her ended when a side sonar sweep of the New River revealed a car underwater just off the marina’s boat launch ramp.
Foul play is not suspected. The woman apparently became disoriented while driving, missed the on ramp to the nearby 7th street bridge, which you can see in the attached pictures, drove into the marina’s parking lot and then drove down and off the boat ramp, thinking it was an access to the bridge.
Amazingly, this is apparently not the first time this has happened. Lighting near the ramp was and continues to be poor. Having said that, no one in the marina can understand how someone can mistake this boat ramp for a bridge access. Also, how boat after boat was launched down the ramp over the last month without hitting the submerged car is a complete mystery.
Sylvia talks to some of neighbors as we try to understand how this tragedy occurred.
The CSI team is on-site
TV news helicopter overhead
The car is brought up
Three divers attached floats to the front and back of the car. The 7th street bridge is in the background.
The car is pulled onto a flatbed for examination
The divers are cleaned and washed down after recovery
Detective Figone briefs the press
Marina boat ramp
Sylestial Star 
SOOOO sad! b
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