UPDATED: Wyandotte Firefighters Retrieve Car, Headless Body Out of Detroit River

A headless, decomposed body was pulled Thursday from a vehicle that had been submerged in the Detroit River for years.

Wyandotte Fire Chief Jeff Carley said the Downriver Underwater Search and Recovery team began working at about 1 p.m. to pull the Mercury Sable out of the river near BASF Waterfront Park. Within hours, both it and the body had been recovered.


The body is badly decomposed, but officials believe it to be a man, Police Chief Daniel Grant said. The body is missing some parts, including a head, but that's likely due to decomposition, Grant said.

"Some of those parts fell off right in front of us," he said. (Watch the chief's full interview.)

The vehicle was last registered in 2004, causing officials to believe that it could have been in the water for at least nine years.

The license plate on the vehicle matches that of a black Mercury Sable driven by a 30-year-old Lincoln Park man who hasn't been seen or heard from since being reported missing on Dec. 30, 2003.

Barbara Wylie, 34, of Riverview, was walking in the park with her family and witnessed the car being pulled from the river. She said authorities gained access to the car by busting out a side window.

Grant said the car likely went into the river less than 100 yards of the location where it was recovered due to river conditions including the strength of the current and the depth of the river.

He added divers would likely return to the location Friday for further investigation.

Earlier reports that officials knew the vehicle had been underwater for years are not accurate. They weren't aware of it until Thursday when a scuba diver discovered it in about 25 feet of water, Grant said.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

(Patch Community Editor Jason Alley contributed to this story.)