Car pulled from Allegheny River linked to 2013 missing person case in Pittsburgh
SPRINGDALE BOROUGH, Pa. (KDKA) — A normal training exercise for the Murrysville Medic One Dive Team ended in a startling discovery this weekend.
Crews found a car with human remains connected to a cold case more than a decade old.
"You wonder every day, did Mr. Backup come back yet?" Sabrina Vennie said.
Those days turned to months and then years. It was a decade of not knowing for Vennie, Bunnie Lee's neighbor. Lee was last seen on Nov. 13, 2013. He lived on Enright Court.
His skill of driving in reverse earned him the nickname "Mr. Backup."
"Kids would call him Mr. Backup. 'Hey, here comes Mr. Backup' because he would back his car up in the driveway all the time," Vennie said.
On Sunday during a regularly scheduled training exercise, the Murrysville Medic One Dive Team discovered a car with human remains in the Allegheny River in Springdale Borough.
The license plate matches the one police believe the 78-year-old man was driving when he was last seen in November 2013.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office is working to identify the remains, but officials believe they are of Lee.
"It's closure finally," Vinne said. "You just pray that his ending was peaceful."
Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to call the county police tip line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS.