Davie Lee Niles was 72 years old when he suddenly went missing in 2006. For seven years, his family held off holding funeral services for him, perhaps hoping against hope that one day he would come back home with a glorious tale of adventure to tell.
All this time, however, Niles was sitting inside his car lying at the bottom of a pond just off 84th Street SW in Byron Township in Michigan. The evidence could be seen on Google Maps.
Brian Houseman, an employee at the Cook Funeral Home in Byron Center, was riding a lift putting on Christmas lights on a tree outside the funeral house when he noticed a car was submerged in a pond not far away from where he works, according to WOOD-TV.
"All of a sudden, it's like, 'Whoa, there's a car out there,'" says Houseman. "No one could ever see it, it was murky and things moved around."
Houseman contacted the Kent County Sheriff's Department, which immediately dispatched a dive team to recover the vehicle. At just before 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, authorities pulled the muddy car out of the pond and the skeletal remains of a man highly believed to be Niles was discovered. Authorities have yet to determine the cause of death, but Sheriff Lt. Ron Gates thinks they may never find out.
"I don't know that we're ever going to be able to determine if it's suicide or accidental," he says. "[It's] pretty bizarre."
The remains have yet to undergo dental testing, but members of the Niles family believe it is their patriarch, as it is his car and his wallet found at the scene.
"It's good to have him home," says Scott Hathaway, Niles' son-in-law. "For us today, it's a closure of a long search. Why God waited nine years, I have no idea, but we're happy."
Niles was last seen with a friend at Jake's Bar in Byron Township, just half a mile from where his car was discovered. Witnesses say he left suddenly, which the family did not deem unusual, as the pain from his cancer would make him uncomfortable. Niles also suffered from depression.
On Oct. 5, 2013, the Niles family published an obituary announcing his death.
"Davie Lee Niles, age 72, of Wyoming, passed away and only God knows the time and place," the obituary says.
