After nearly four decades, closure has finally been brought to the case of a missing Davie man. A volunteer group, Sunshine State Sonar, utilizing sophisticated sonar technology, located the remains of Howard Vaughn Gratteau along with his missing pickup truck at the bottom of a Sunrise lake. This discovery brings an end to the long-standing mystery of Gratteau's disappearance.
Reported by WSVN, Gratteau was last seen on September 1, 1986, by his wife and stepdaughter, setting off for a service call he never completed. His white 1985 Toyota pickup truck, which bore a novelty license plate reading “HOWARD2,” also disappeared that fateful day. Decades later, it was found submerged 42 feet deep in a lake near Southwest 12th Street and Shotgun Road.
According to reports from the CBS News, divers from the Broward Sheriff’s Office Dive Rescue Team collaborated with the Sunrise Police Department, Davie Police Department, and the Broward Medical Examiner to retrieve the vehicle and human remains from the lake. While DNA testing is still pending, there is significant evidence pointing to Gratteau's identity, including the company name on the side of the truck and the matched vehicle's tag.
"It was almost like a time capsule from 1986," Mike Sullivan, a diver from Sunshine State Sonar, told CBS News, describing the discovery and the process of verifying the vehicle. This painstaking work has not only unearthed physical evidence but also unearthed layers of long-held hope and unresolved grief within the family and community. Gratteau's family had suspected a tragic accident, possibly due to an insulin-related medical emergency.
Beverly Douglas, Gratteau’s sister, expressed to the media her family's mixture of relief and sorrow with the resolution of his case. "I miss him a lot," she said in a statement obtained by CBS News. Cassidy Bacon, a family friend, conveyed: "He just deserved at least to be laid to rest and to know what happened to him."
