The family of an affluent Scarsdale couple feared murdered for the past 44 years was relieved after the elderly pair’s car was likely found in a Georgia pond just a stone’s throw from their hotel — offering fresh insight into the mysterious cold case.
When Charles and Catherine Romer vanished in April 1980 on their way back from a sunny winter in Florida, investigators and locals suspected the wealthy couple from the posh New York suburb were possibly targeted in a violent robbery, Catherine’s granddaughter, Christine Seaman Heller, said this week.
But a car similar to the 1979 Lincoln Continental owned by the Romers was found in a pond Friday coincidentally just 70 yards from the then-Holiday Inn in Brunswick where the two were staying, giving the family a sense of closure and new hope their deaths were simply a “terrible accident,” Seaman Heller told The Post.
“So just the thought that it wasn’t a violent act, but just a terrible accident, you know, it’s just unbelievable how relieving it feels,” she explained after talking with police on Monday.
“You don’t want anything to happen to anyone you love, but just the fact that they didn’t have an ending where it was violent or scary or horrible — as horrible as it was — but not the ending that we were all led to believe all these years.”
Glynn County police said Wednesday the car was finally pulled from the pond Tuesday night after the body of water was drained, and human remains in the vehicle indicate two bodies were inside.
Investigators still need to identify the remains and confirm the car found is the one owned by the Romers. A manner of death has also not been determined.
The car also had jewelry, including a Rolex watch and diamond ring inside of it, the family revealed.
Seaman Heller, who was around 15 years old in 1980 and is one of nine sisters, recalled investigators telling the family they believed Charles and Catherine, both in their mid-70s, were possibly the victims of “something horrific.”
Her father had to travel to Georgia frequently to identify bodies of missing people who were found.
“It was just constant sadness and fear,” she said.
Seaman Heller stressed that while nothing is confirmed yet, police told her family it appears the car errantly entered the pond.
The vehicle was discovered by a group of volunteer divers from the Sunshine State Sonar Team, which received a tip from a YouTuber who visited the pond and spotted a separate, unrelated sedan in the water, the dive team owner told The Post.
When divers entered the water, they also found the Lincoln Continental, owner Mike Sullivan said.
“We were 100 yards from Room 149 where they were staying,” he added. “And we searched that body of water.”
Charles Romer, a retired oil executive, and his first wife were lifelong friends with Catherine Romer and her first husband. After their respective spouses died, the two married each other.
They were each worth around $1 million, according to an Associated Press report from the 1980s, and Catherine was reportedly wearing between $60,000 and $80,000 in jewelry when she vanished.
“She was one of those grandmothers that made us all feel special,” Seaman Heller said.
It’s unclear if the pond was searched at the time the two vanished, a police spokesperson said, though a local, Andy Mavromat, told The Post he recalls the body of water was scoured back then.
Even if it was searched, Sullivan stressed finding the car is like seeking a needle in a haystack because the visibility is “horrendous.”
Seaman Heller said she and the rest of her family are heartened that law enforcement and even volunteers still care about the cold case.
“We all felt like we were her favorites,” Seaman Heller said of Catherine.
“She was larger than life and spoke French, and she was creative, and she was one of these amazing people, just loved life. Took us traveling and always made a big fuss about these nine granddaughters that she had.”
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