The Long Island community was moved by the resolution of a near 15-year mystery when a vehicle, discovered submerged off Cedar Beach boat ramp in Mount Sinai, was found to contain the remains of Robert Long, a local man who had been missing since 2010, as confirmed by the Suffolk County police.
Two volunteer groups, Explorers with a Mission and Adventures with Purpose, employing side-scan sonar, are credited with the discovery of Long's 2007 PT Cruiser, their efforts illuminating the deep unseen where the car rested since that fateful December day when Long, then 62, disappeared, and his absence had been carved into the ledger of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), a repository for cold cases and unidentified remains across the nation, and after the car was found around 5 p.m. "Diver Dan," a member of one of the teams, reported finding bones within the vehicle, which spurred a call to 911, according to NBC New York.
The search was initially suspended due to water conditions, but resumed the following day, "I reached in and grabbed a handful of bones, and brought one up to the surface," "Diver Dan" told NBC New York about the experience. Suffolk County's Marine Bureau divers collaborated in the recovery, and the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office ultimately identified the skeletal remains as Long's.
While Long's cause of death remains unconfirmed, the police do not suspect criminal involvement in the vehicle's plunge, the car matching its description and containing personal items that corroborated the identity of its occupant matched police records the car was later extracted by a crane, and the tireless pursuit by volunteer divers has not only breathed new life into a case long dormant but brought a somber resolution to a community and a family that had waited almost a decade and a half for answers, "What we want to do is bring answers and give hope, to show that someone still cares," said Bill McIntosh from Exploring with a Mission, in a statement captured by NBC New York.
The case's closure echoes the vast and sometimes shadowed truth of missing persons in America, where NamUs reports up to 600,000 individuals vanish annually, while tens of thousands of remains await names, and anyone holding information related to Long's last days is urged to reach out to Suffolk County Police's Homicide Squad, as per details shared by Gothamist.
