Teacher missing for more than two years is found submerged in car in Florida swamp

Robert Heikka, 70, was last seen on 25 October 2020

The body of a Florida teacher who had been missing for more than two years has been recovered.

Robert Heikka, 70, was last seen on 25 October 2020 leaving his home in Port Orange in his white 2012 Chevrolet Impala. Heikka, who had worked as a teacher in Volusia County for the last three decades of his life, was reported missing the following day after he failed to show up at his job at Creekside Middle School.

Mr Heikka’s remains were found inside his vehicle, which was submerged in a water canal along State Roads 44 and 415, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Saturday (8 April.) On Tuesday, the medical examiner positively identified the remains as those belonging to Mr Heikka.

Robert Heikka was last seen on 25 October 2020 (VSO)

The Sunshine State Sonar Search Team worked along with Recon Dive Recovery and Port Orange detectives to retrieve the vehicle. In a post on Sunday, the nonprofit search team said that they had searched over 70 bodies of water between Orlando and Mr Heikka’s home.

During a search back in November, the agencies discovered a small canal but the body of water was covered by trees and thick bushes, and no sonar equipment was available. The recovery teams returned recently to find that water levels had dropped 50 per cent in the area and used now-available sonar technology to check the canal.

“Using a special piece of sonar equipment, we checked the depths of this tiny canal. Realizing the canal was only 4 feet deep we made a visual inspection from end to end,” the sonar team said in a statement.

“That is when we discovered Robert’s vehicle at the far end sitting upright with the roof partially exposed.”

Mr Heikka’s remains were found inside his vehicle, which was submerged in a water canal along State Roads 44 and 415 (VSO)

Photos shared by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office show Mr Heikka’s 2012 Chevrolet submerged in the canal before it was retrieved.

Mr Heikka’s remains were positively identified on Tuesday (11 April).

“It just feels so good to give these families answers,” Sunshine State Sonar Specialist Mike Sullivan told local news station WESH. “I would never say it’s closure, because there is never closure for a family losing someone like this. It’s answers to what happened to their loved one.”