Underwater Search Turns Up Items Of Interest
Underwater Search Turns Up Items Of Interest
By Andrew Gorosko
Police Chief Michael Kehoe said October 22 that police diversâ search for criminal evidence in Lake Zoar near the Silver Bridge at Glen Road proved fruitful last week, resulting in police locating items that they are evaluating as part of criminal investigations into larcenies.
On October 14 and 15, divers from the Trumbull and Fairfield police departments went underwater to search for evidence in the Lake Zoar section of the Housatonic River. Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue (NUSAR) and the Long Hill Fire Department of Trumbull provided support services for the divers.
âWe actually did find some things,â Chief Kehoe said.
âWe werenât looking for weapons,â he noted, saying that the items that were found are possible stolen goods taken during the past eight months.
The police chief declined to describe the types of items that were found or their number. âI canât tell you what we found,â he said, but, âWe found some things that were of interest to us.â
Besides finding items on the riverbed, the activity provided the divers with a training opportunity, the police chief said.
âWe will always evaluate whatever we have,â he said of the policeâs review of the items found.
Police are actively pursuing investigatory leads into a variety of crimes that occurred during the past eight months, he said, adding that the scuba diving was one aspect of those investigations.
During that period, police investigated a series of thefts of items from unlocked motor vehicles, which generally occurred overnight at residential properties in Sandy Hook when the vehicles were left unattended outdoors and their owners were asleep in their nearby homes. Items stolen in those crimes included small valuables such as digital media players, automotive navigation units, and satellite radios.
Chief Kehoe would not say whether the underwater evidence search is linked to those crimes.
In the underwater search, divers checked the river bottom both upriver and downriver of the bridge.