Florida divers find likely remains of mom, daughter who vanished in 1974 — as well as long-missing WWII vet

A team of divers looking for a woman and her young daughter who vanished in 1974 located their car and likely human remains in a Florida canal, authorities said this week. And in an unexpected twist, the divers announced that during the search, they also located the missing vehicle and likely remains of a World War II veteran who went missing 20 years ago. 

On Nov. 12, 1974, a 35-year-old woman and her 3-year-old daughter were reported missing from their home, the Plantation Police Department said in a Tuesday news release. Authorities did not identify the missing woman and child, but the information aligns with a missing persons alert for Doris Wurst, and her daughter, Caren, and the dive team confirmed their names when announcing the news of their search.

Plantation police said that Sunshine State Sonar, a group that conducts volunteer searches for missing person cases in South Florida, began looking for the missing mother and child in June of 2023.  On Saturday, the sonar team located a 1960s model Chevrolet Impala in a local canal, along with "skeletal remains consistent with an adult and small child were located inside the vehicle."

Sunshine State Sonar posted video of the search mission as well as footage of the car being recovered from the water.

Police said "next of kin have been contacted regarding the likelihood that the remains of their loved ones have been located," and DNA testing would confirm their identities.

While searching for Doris and Caren Wurst, the dive team said their sonar detected another vehicle about 22 feet deep in the same canal. Assisted by Plantation police officers, divers retrieved the license plate number, which corresponded to a 2004 missing person case.

"This was not a missing person's case that we were aware of," the group said.   

Sunshine State Sonar said that divers with the Broward County Sheriff's Office confirmed human remains were inside the vehicle, which turned out to be a silver Buick LeSabre that belonged to Bernie Novick. Authorities said Novick, an 83-year-old World War II veteran, went missing from his home in Lauderdale West 20 years ago, WPLG reported.

"Twenty years ago at this time, we were down in Florida looking for the car," his son Joey Novick told WPLG. "We had a memorial service about five years later and I really put everything behind us with closure, but I always imagined this is how it happened."

Working alongside law enforcement agencies in Florida, Sunshine State Sonar says its mission is to use high-tech equipment "to find missing persons, vehicles or vessels believed to be in waterways."

In:
• Cold Case
• DNA
• Florida
• Missing Person