Trussville police say there were actually two vehicles in the pond where a man’s body was recovered on Saturday, one visible from the road and one not visible.
When divers from Trussville Fire and Rescue located a white pickup truck and a male body in the pond at the intersection of Highway 11 and Camp Coleman Road, they were preparing to remove another vehicle that was known to be in the pond.
Lieutenant Jeff Bridges of the Trussville Police department confirmed that they were aware of a vehicle in the pond. That vehicle was visible from the road, but the one in which the man’s body was found wasn’t visible until divers went in today and found it beneath the surface. Both of the vehicles are white.
“We did know there was a white vehicle in the pond,” Bridges said. “One of our officers had dived the pond in the past to check it out
. There was nothing there that indicated a problem and the property owner didn’t want to remove it at the time. We were not aware of the second vehicle that was removed today and it wasn’t visible from the road. The divers found it when they went in for the first vehicle that we had checked out before.”
Bridges said officials decided to remove the vehicle in preparation of guardrails being installed in the area.
TPD Chief Don Sivley said the license plates on the truck are registered to an out of area male. The vehicle is believed to have been in the pond for months, based on information obtained by officers during the investigation, but had not been visible from the surface.
“We have some good information to go on in our investigation,” Sivley said. “Obviously, we’ll await positive identification and proper notification before releasing any additional information at this time.”
The truck was towed from the scene. The body was recovered from the pond by Fire and Rescue personnel working from a small boat a short time later and was transported to the Jefferson County Coroner’s office.
The case remains under investigation by the Trussville police