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Credit: Edited by Inside the MagicJust yesterday, before one of the entrances to Walt Disney World Resort on World Drive, a car was found with the remains of a local Orlando mom who has been missing for 12 years, in a pond. Now, we have further updates on the tragic scenario.
At Walt Disney World, there are seven entrances for guests to use if they are not staying at a Walt Disney World Resort, with one of those entrances being located on World Drive.
As we initially shared, “A preliminary report by the FHP states that a Ford Freestar van was traveling on the State Road 417 southbound exit ramp to World Drive when, for unknown reasons, the van’s driver ran off the roadway and entered a retention pond. As a result, it became completely submerged. The specific date and time of when the crash occurred remains under investigation”.
Then the Sunshine State Sonar, a nonprofit based out of St. Petersburg, stated that the person inside the car was Sandra Lemire, who had been missing for 12 years.
The report concluded, “Lemire left her grandmother’s home near I4 and John Young Parkway in Orlando, Florida on May 8, 2012. She was driving her grandmother’s red 2004 Ford Freestar minivan with the Florida license plate number J36-8ZE. Sandra, along with the vehicle were never seen again.
Lemire was headed to Kissimmee, Florida to meet a man she’d been communicating with through an online dating service. She called her grandmother to say she’d arrived in Kissimmee, and promised to call again before she began the journey home, but she never did. She was last seen leaving a Denny’s restaurant in Kissimmee, driving the minivan.”
Now, Wesh has spoken to the Lemire family.
For over a decade, Timothy Lemire Jr. has been living in limbo not knowing what happened to his mother Sandra Lemire, who suddenly disappeared in May 2012.
“He went through hell over this,” said his father Timothy Lemire.
Pauline Verner, Sandra’s grandmother, said “I haven’t heard from her since and of course, that scared me,” referring to Sandra’s last conversation with her, before leaving for her date.
Mike Sullivan and his volunteer dive group Sunshine State Sonar have been searching for Lemire for the past year and a half. “Of all the cases we were working, this was the case I was least optimistic about,” he said, “You know what cracked it?” said Sullivan. “It was two weeks ago. The detectives from Orlando Police gave us some new information that we could use. And they gave us the location of her last cell phone tower.”
On Saturday, they ended up at a retention pond along State Road 417 and I-4 near Disney and World Drive. That is where they spotted a red minivan.
“I was hyperventilating. I was stressed out. I put all my dive gear on, my wetsuit and I just dove in that water,” Sullivan said. “I had to get that confirmation for us. We had to know.”
Below, is a video of Mike discovering the car.
Sullivan explained that once he saw the license plate, he knew they finally found her. The team, which had taken on the case pro bono then called Sandra’s son, “What he did was amazing. And without him and his team, none of this would have been possible,” said Timothy Lemire Jr. “They didn’t ask for a dollar. That’s just the kindness of their heart.”
What this confirmed was that Sandra was not murdered; she was just involved in a tragic accident.
“Deep in my heart. I always thought this was a foul play case. And it turned out to be just a bad, terrible car accident,” Sullivan said. “I’m just so proud of our team.”
Timothy Lemire Jr. said, “It’s a lot of mixed emotions, I’m happy she wasn’t murdered or kidnapped or anything like that because we’ve been thinking that for years.”
If you are staying on Walt Disney World property when traveling to Disney, then you won’t need a car to get to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Disney’s Animal Kingdom as Disney provides bus transport, as well as monorail, boat, and Disney skyliner transport depending on your location, and where you are headed.
Related: Car Accident Lawyer Bus Ad Causes Car Crash at Disney World
That being said, millions of Disney guests each day drive in from various sections of Orlando and Florida to visit the parks, and with so many cars on the road, and many not knowing the roads too well, accidents are prone to happen. Additionally, some exit areas out of Disney World are not well-lit, so driving out at night could be quite dark. Keeping extra space from other cars and not speeding might not be the fool-proof solution to avoiding an accident, but it is good practice.
The Orlando Police said this is an active investigation, and they will share more information once they have it.
We at Inside the Magic send our condolences to Sandra’s friends and family during this difficult time.