Man Missing Since 2006 Found in Pond by Funeral Home

A man who disappeared in 2006 was found this week just yards from a funeral home that could have given him a proper burial. A body believed to be that of 72-year-old Davie Lee Niles, who was last seen leaving a bar in Byron Township in central Michigan on Oct. 11, 2006, was found in a car in a pond across a parking lot from the funeral home, reports Fox 17. Workers at Cook Funeral & Cremation Services tell the station they were using a lift to put a Christmas star on a pine tree when they spotted the roof of the car in the murky pond and called authorities. A wrecker pulled the car from the pond and police discovered Niles' skeletal remains in the front seat, along with his wallet.

The sunken car is visible in images from Google Maps, notes KFOR. Investigators say they're not entirely sure what happened to Niles, but foul play is not suspected, WOOD TV8 reports. Family members—who published an obituary in 2011 saying "only God knows the time and place" where he passed away—say he had been dealing with both cancer and depression when he disappeared. "For us today, it's a closure of a long search," his son-in-law tells the station. "Why God waited nine years, I have no idea, but we're happy." (A doctor declared dead after disappearing in Spain almost 20 years ago was found living as a hermit in a forest in Italy.)