Authorities in Florida say a car owned by a high school teacher who went missing in 2020 has been found in a local canal with a body inside.
Robert Heikka’s car was discovered in the water along Pioneer Trail in Volusia County between state highways 44 and 415, according to a statement from the Volusia Sheriff’s Office (VSO).
Water levels in the canal had “dropped significantly recently”, revealing the car’s location, the VSO said saturday
Police have been in contact with the missing teacher’s family, according to the Port Orange Police Department (POPD). However, the body found inside the car has not been officially identified.
The Volusia County Coroner’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Heikka was last seen at his Port Orange home on October 25, 2020, according to Port Orange police. He was 70 years old at the time of his disappearance.
The Florida man was reported missing after being absent from work at Creekside Middle School on October 26, 2020, a POPD spokesman said in December 2020, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
According to VSO and POPD, the Sunshine State Sonar Search Team and Recon Dive Recovery assisted in locating the missing vehicle.
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Mike Sullivan, who works with Sunshine State Sonar, said he and others were walking near the channel when he saw “what looked like the roof of the vehicle sticking out of the water,” according to NBC affiliate WESH.
Police previously identified the teacher’s vehicle as a white 2012 Chevrolet Impala.
Photos from the New Smyrna Beach scene, shared by the VSO, appear to show the submerged Impala and a license plate portion that matches the tag number previously provided by the department.
“We thank everyone involved for giving Mr. Heikka’s family some much-needed closure,” POPD said Saturday. “Our prayers and thoughts are with his family.”
Heikka began working for the Volusia County School District in 1989, according to the sentinel and CBS affiliate WKMG-TV. She has been teaching at Creekside Middle School in Port Orange since 2002.
According to WESH, the canal where Heikka’s car was found is just a few miles from where the late teacher lived.
“It feels great to give answers to these families,” Sullivan told the network. “I would never say it’s closure, because there’s never closure for a family that loses someone like that. It’s responses to what happened to their loved one.”
