Mystery surrounds discovery of car buried in backyard of $15m Silicon Valley home

Cadaver dogs were called in and “made a slight notification of possible human remains,” but none had been found more than 12 hours after the car was found

The discovery of a car with bags of concrete found buried in the backyard of a Silicon Valley home has led investigators to consider the site a possible crime scene.

On Thursday, landscapers had begun excavating the ground of a multimillion-dollar home in the affluent neighbourhood of Atherton, located just a short drive away from where many big tech companies were founded and some, such as Meta, are headquartered.

While digging in the backyard, landscapers recovered something that they couldn’t immediately explain: a car. According to a news release from police, the car was buried behind the million-dollar estate sometime in the 1990s.

After police received the report about the car, which police described in their bulletin as “suspicious circumstances”, technicians from the San Mateo Crime Lab were contacted and deployed to assist with excavating the vehicle.

Investigators say they are considering the site a possible crime scene (NBC Bay Area/video screengrab)

The investigators added in the release that, due to the unknown nature of the incident, they called in cadaver dogs to survey the area for any signs of human remains.

While initially the dogs “made a slight notification of possible human remains,” their search would prove futile after 12 hours of searching the terrain from when the car was first recovered, Atherton Police Cmdr Daniel Larson said, according to ABC News.

A car that was found buried in the backyard of a multimillion-dollar California home was filled with bags of concrete, police said (NBC Bay Area/video screengrab)

“Excavation is ongoing and at this time, no human remains have been located,” the news release said, detailing how the car had been found beneath four to five ft of soil and had unused bags of concrete throughout the inside.

The car was buried, the force added, before the current homeowner took ownership of the property, which is estimated to be valued at $15m, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Investigators can be seen digging where a car was found buried in the backyard of a Silicon Valley home on Thursday (NBC Bay Area/video screengrab)

Atherton is one of the wealthiest towns in the US and has regularly ranked as being the most expensive ZIP Code in the country. It has a population of about 7,000 residents and lies 18 miles northwest of San Jose.

“The motive and circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation. No additional information is available at this time,” the release added.